AN 



ESSAY 

ON 

EVIL SPIRITS; 

OR, 

REASONS TO PROVE THEIR EXISTENCE I 
is 

©ppositton to a Eecturc, 

DELIVERED 

BY THE REV. N. T. HEINEKEN, 

In the Unitarian Chapel, Bradford. 
*- 

BY WILLIAM CARLISLE. 

THIRD EDITION, ENLARGED AND CORRECTED. 



"God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, 
and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."' 
—2 Pet ii. 4. 

" And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own ha- 
bitation, be hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the 
judgment of the great day. " — Jude 6th ver. 

" The good and evil of eternity are too ponderous for the wings of wit: 
the mind sinks under them in passive helplessness, content with calm belief 
and humble adoration." — Johnson. 



DUmton : 

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AND SPINK, LEEDS; WALKER, HALIFAX ; NICHOLS, 
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KNARESBRO'; AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS. 

1827. 



ENTERED AT STATIONERS 1 HALL. 



Printed by T. WALKER-, Halifax. 



THE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN 

OF 

BRADFORD, 

THE 

FOLLOWING WORK IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 

AS 

A SMALL EXPRESSION OF 

GRATITUDE, 

FOR 

THEIR KIND AND LIBERAL SUPPORT, 

BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



V 



PREFACE. 



In these days of fanciful innovation, and bold im- 
piety, Scriptural Doctrines are abused and perverted 
on the one hand, by the extravagance of folly and 
enthusiasm ; and are insulted on the other, by the 
scoffs of Socinians. They are ridiculed as a vague 
and visionary scheme, which finds its origin only in 
the wild imaginations of men. Notwithstanding the 
contempt and ridicule which are continually poured 
from the lips of opposers, the author avows himself 
a believer in all the peculiar and essential doctrines 
of the Gospel ; and his intention in publishing this 
essay is, to defend these doctrines against the inju- 
dicious evasions, wild reveries, bombastical asser- 
tions, and sarcastical animadversions, of those men 
who would rob Christianity of its glory, blast our 
hopes, and make this world one vast scene of misery 
and chaos. 

In this controversy, the author sincerely desires 
truth to have its full weight. He contends for no 
human creeds or explications whatever ; they may 

A 



11. 



be right, or they may be wrong ; infallibility is not 
stamped upon any human creed whatever ; conse- 
quently none ever pretended to infallibility, but the 
absurd system of Popery. Suffer the author to add, 
that it is his firm opinion, that the articles, liturgy, 
and homilies, of the established Church, approach 
nearer to divine inspiration than any other human 
system ever extant. 

Notwithstanding the superior excellency of this 
divine establishment, and although the author can, 
consistent with his own conscience declare, that there 
is not one point of Christian Doctrine inculcated by 
it, but what is fully supported by the infallible testi- 
mony of revelation ; yet it is only human, or, in other 
words, the compilers of this most excellent system 
of rules and doctrines, were only fallible ; therefore, 
no man can appeal to it or any other, and confi- 
dently say, u Thus saith the Lord" The highest 
that can be said of any human creed, however excel- 
lent, is, that it is a stream from the great fountain 
or source of all truth ; and a fountain must for ever 
excel its streams. Therefore, the author is deter- 
mined to make the Scripture, the great fountain of 
infallible truth, the grand standard of his faith and 
practice, audits sacred decisions the universal au- 
thority on which he will build every part of that 
system unto which he gives his assent ; and he would 
Lave Mr. Heineken, and his Socinian brethren, to 
recollect, that he attacks them because he believes 



iii. 

they are blinded by prejudice and plunged into er- 
ror—because he believes that the system of Socin- 
ianism is false, and derogatory to the Son of God ; 
injurious to Society at large ; dangerous in the ex- 
treme to all who embrace it ; and in its nature ab - 
surd to such a degree, as to render it disgusting to 
every sensible man. 

There is no doubt but the genuine truths of Chris- 
tianity will ultimately prevail : God will vindicate 
his own cause. The powers of darkness have long 
attempted to subvert the whole system of Divine 
truth, but they have not prevailed, nor is it to be 
apprehended they ever will. The Great Head of the 
Church is shaking the nations, and is about to purge 
his floor ; the gold, silver, and precious stones, shall 
abide the day of trial ; but the chaff will be blown 
away ; the wood, hay, and stubble, shall be burnt 
up ; all superstitious rites shall be subverted ; but 
the word of the Lord shall endure for ever; his 
counsels shall stand, and he will do all his plea- 
sure. Here then the author rests his faith. Anti- 
christ may fall, superstitious observances may cease, 
religious establishments may tumble into ruins, em- 
pires and kingdoms may be overturned, princes and 
governors may be dethroned, the great men of the 
earth may take part with the enemies of truth, er- 
ror and delusion may run like wild-fire, unbelievers 
may rage, and zoould-be philosophers imagine a vain 
thing ; yea, all nature may sink into a perfect non- 



iv. 



entity ; the solid rocks may be dissolved ; the vast 
mountains on our globe may disappear and be not ; 
the most invulnerable of all material substances — in 
a word, all the stupendous orbs which garnish the 
heavens, may vanish like shadows, die like the shrill 
echo, and be no more ; but the Bible shall arise out 
of its present obscurity, and being stripped of all 
human appendages, shall universally be had in 
honour, while the enemies of evangelical religion 
shall be confounded world without end. Yea, 

« They shall pass away like the baseless fabric of a vision, 
" And leave Dot a wreck behind," 

While all those solemn realities of the Gospel 
shall survive 

" The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds." 

The reader will be pleased to observe that though 
the term Unitarian is generally used in this Es- 
say, yet it is used gratuitously ; for the body so 
designated have no more right to it than the Trini- 
tarians. The author would not have used it but 
for a certain friend, whom he highly esteems for his 
piety and benevolence, who said he would use the 
term Unitarian iustead of Socinian, as they called 
themselves by that name. The reason why the au- 
thor would not concede to them in the term 
Unitarian, is, because they have chosen it expressly 
to intimate that they, among Christians exclusively, 
hold the existence of one God, and that Trinitarians 



V. 



hold the existence of more Gods than one ; an im- 
putation which they well know every person who 
believes in the Divine Trinity, rejects with abhor- 
rence. 

Again, in arguing with Trinitarians, they gene- 
rally endeavour to prove that the Scriptures, in a 
great variety of passages, assert that there is but one 
God ; and when they have proved this point, viz. 
the Divine Unity, they triumph and consider the 
dispute as ended, and their antagonist overthrown. 
In this way they insinuate to their readers, that Tri- 
nitarians hold the existence of more Gods than one, 
and that all their arguments are intended to support 
this doctrine. Whereas, every Unitarian knows 
perfectly well that the unity of God, is as entirely 
and as avowedly holden by those who believe in the 
ever blessed and adorable Trinity, as by himself, 
that none of their arguments are directed against it, 
and that this point of Christian Doctrine has never 
been, and never can be in debate between him and 
them, so long as the unity of God is equally holden 
by both parties. That the doctrine of the Trinity 
involves or infers the existence of more Gods than 
one, every Unitarian has a right to prove, and may 
with perfect fairness prove, if he can. But to say 
that Trinitarians believe in the existence of more 
Gods than one, and to treat them as if they thus be. 
lieved, when it is perfectly well known that every 
Trinitarian disclaims such belief with indignation, is 



vi. 



conduct, which, in my opinion, admits of no justifica- 
tion. Every Trinitarian with the strictest propriety 
may say, " The Lord our God is one Lord, and 

HIS NAME ONE." 

The author went to hear Mr. Heineken deliver a 
Lecture, in which he endeavoured to prove the non- 
existence of an evil spirit, called the Devil, or Satan. 
His mind was much wounded to see so many Athe- 
ists and Deists ; and likewise a great number of 
men and women, who, in their simplicity and igno- 
rance, drank in his disgusting heterodoxy, not 
knowing that it was more dangerous than a draught 
of the essence of hemlock. The author made two 
or three remarks, and determined to oppose him. — 
When Mr. Heineken heard of his intention, he very 
candidly came forward, and made him an offer of 
his Sermon, which the author read with the utmost 
candour ; yet he must confess that what is contained 
in it, is contrary to every principle of philosophy, 
and the plain language of the Scriptures. But he 
is not warranted in commenting on his own observa- 
tions. Such as they are, he commits them to the 
world, and earnestly recommends them to the can- 
dour and attention of those to whom he now appeals. 
There perhaps is much in this essay that will be 
grating in the ears of the hypercritic, who can de- 
rive a sort of flimsy pleasure from labouring to pry 
into the deepest recesses of grammatical accuracy. 
However he would observe, that his present circum* 



vii. 

stances forbid him being critically nice respecting 
this in the present essay. 

Should this work, through the divine blessing, 
prove beneficial to society in general, or should any 
of those who have fallen a victim to the powerful 
darts of sophistry, be drawn from those labyrinths of 
absurdity, or others be prevented from falling into 
the same snare, his intention in writing it will be 
realized. It is the first time that he ever attempted 
to assume the character of an author, and without 
dedication or patron, he abandons this essay to its 
ultimate fate. 

Dudley-Hill, near Bradford, > 
January 14, 1825. > 



PREFACE 



TO THE 

SECOND EDITION.* 



It is with great pleasure and gratitude to the 
enlightened public, for their kind and liberal sup- 
port which they have afforded the author, that he 
sits down to write the following short preface. As 
a Second Edition of this work is just going to make 
its appearance in the world, so soon after the first, 
is, to the author, a matter of astonishment, and 
thankfulness to the religious world, as it is only 
four months since the first edition made its appear- 
ance ; and notwithstanding the many defects which 
were scattered through its pages, yet the author 
has received many testimonies of approbation, which 
have removed that suspense under which he laboured, 
relative to its fate. As the author was unknown to 
the departments of literature, he could not but be 
anxious to know its destiny. He waited the issue, 
with a mind fluctuating in doubt, whether the 

# The reader will please to observe, that the Preface 
to the First Edition as it now stands, is considerably 
altered. 



X. 



arguments which he advanced, in Ol der to prove the 
existence of evil spirits, would have the same 
weight, and appear with the same cogency and clear- 
ness to the mind of every reader, as to his. He 
was sensible, that neither he nor Mr. Heineken, 
could influence or deceive the judgment of an en- 
lightened public. 

With these views, the first edition made its 
appearance, and its reception far exceeded his most 
sanguine expectations. The demand for it at present, 
is great ; therefore, he judges it necessary to publish 
another edition, under the patronage of a generous 
public. There are many persons who have interest- 
ed themselves in the publication of this little work, 
whose names would gratify his feelings to publish, 
but it is a liberty which he dare not take ; it is to 
these, in particular, and the religious world in 
general, that the author is indebted for a patronage 
so liberal and great ; and which he trusts he will 
never forget, so long as gratitude is capable of 
warming his heart. 

Though the author has had the advantage of 
correcting the first edition, yet, he has not the 
vanity to suppose that the second is perfect; there 
are many defects and inaccuracies, which he humbly 
hopes the candid reader will pardon and over look, 

November tth, IS25. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. I. 

PAGE. 

Miscellaneous Observations . .7 ...... 13 

CHAP. II. 

The Introduction of Moral Evil considered . . 29 

CHAP. III. 

The Names given to Satan in the Scripture, 
explained 49 

CHAP. IV. 

Demoniacal Possessions ; or, Reasons for their 
Credibility, according to the New Testament 59 

CHAP V. 

A more direct Reply to the Lecture. ... #7. 101 



AN 



ESSAY ON EVIL SPIRITS. 



CHAP. I. 

Miscellaneous Observations. 

Notwithstanding the light of Evangel- 
ical (ruth, which shines with a brilliancy not to be 
equalled by mid-day splendour, yet, it is amaz- 
ing to think what ignorance and superstition re- 
main : what darkness, more intense than midnight 
gloom ! How true are the words of the prophet, 
that darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the 
people ; for infidelity is stalking abroad with its ugly 
features, spreading its contagion and infusing its poi- 
son, exulting in the most ridiculous chimeras, and 
carried away with the most bewildered enthusiasm. 
Notwithstanding the blackness and darkness of infi- 
delity, Mr. Heineken stands in a situation ten thou- 
sand times more awful ; for when I take into con- 
sideration the destructive consequence of his prin- 



14 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



ciples, they appear fraught with results the most 
alarming, and consequences the most fatal. They 
lead the unhappy victim, who becomes fettered and 
entangled with them, into a delusion superlatively 
awful ; and hurry him, under a garb of the most 
fantastical hypocrisy, to the verge of eternal ruin. 
As a proof of what I have asserted, I would have 
Mr. lleineken to observe, that there are many per- 
sons, some of whom I am acquainted with, and others 
of whom I have been informed, who were, a little 
while ago, strongly attached to the Christian faith ; 
but by means of attending his lectures, their attach- 
ment has been destroyed, and they are now wander- 
ing in the dark regions of infidelity, and upon his 
principles are defending that preposterous system 
of Scepticism. This proves the assertion of Bishop 
Warburton, where he says, that Unitarianisra " is a 
sort of infidelity in disguise;" or, as Mr. Wilberforce 
represents it, " a sort of halfway house from nom- 
inal orthodoxy to absolute infidelity ;" or, as Mrs. 
Barbauld is said to have called it, " Christianity in 
the frigid zone." Now I would ask Mr. Heineken 
to tell me, what good has resulted from his preach- 
ing ? I know of none : 1 have pointed him out an 
evil, and one of a serious nature ; " and if he which 
converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall 
save a soul from death,"* what must be the conse- 
quences of that preacher's labour, which leads only 
* James iv. 20. 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



15 



to death. It is strikingly evident to every sound 
reasoner, that Unitarianism leads to the grossest 
errors, and plunges its unhappy dovotees into a 
vortex of unfounded theories. What is there in 
the gospel to recommend it, and render it a subject 
worthy of a Divine revelation, when all its peculiar 
and essential doctrines are taken away ? I must 
confess, that the arguments which the Unitarians 
have made use of in order to support their system, 
and the miserable subterfuges which they have 
resorted to ; have done more towards convincing me 
that their system is a destructive jargon, than all 
the mighty series of reasoning which has been ad- 
vanced against them. Seldom are they at a loss 
for a gloss, or an evasion, in aiming at the accom- 
plishment of their object. If they meet with a 
passage whose indubitable reading, and whose ob- 
vious plain meaning, is such as every unbiassed 
man would pronounce favourable to any of those 
doctrines which they so unreasonably despise, they 
are ready with ample stores of metaphorical, enig - 
matical, and idiomatical forms of interpretation ; 
and stubborn must be that text which will not yield 
to one or other of their modes of treatment. Thus 
they explain away the obvious import of the Bible, 
and thereby forsake the paths of reason and 
Scripture, and wander into the visionary regions of 
dogmatical enthusiasm, which destroys the trans- 
cendent grandeur and glory of the sacred pages. 



16 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS* 



According to the principle of Unitarianism, our 
inquiry is not to be, what is the plain and obvious 
meaning of the writers of the Scriptures, agreeably 
to the ordinary and established rules of interpre- 
tation ; but is it possible to understand their words 
otherwise ? Men may talk of prejudice, but I can 
conceive of few prejudices more strong or more de- 
ceitful than that which is involved in such a prin- 
ciple. It is surely a very suspicious circumstance 
as to the foundation on which any system rests, when 
its abettors feel it necessary formally to warn their 
readers ff to be on their guard against what is 
called the natural signification of words and 
phrases "* This is ignorance with a witness ! it 
opens the flood-gate of error, and truth is lost in 
the ocean of absurdity ; for if we reject the natural 
signification of words and phrases, we must for ever 
wander in the barren fields of speculation and un- 
certainty. Here they slide into an error which 
violates every sentiment of propriety, and converts 
the plain and unadorned language of the Scriptures 
into a useless and unnatural pleonasm ; and those 
doctrines which the writers have inculcated with so 
much emphasis, they unnerve and paralyze, and 
with false glosses and wild evasions, destroy all 
point and emphasis, evaporate all its spirit, and 
freeze every syllable of it to very ice. It is diffi- 
cult to maintain a Scripture controversy with the 
* Read Belsham's Calm Enquiry, pages 4, o. 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



17 



class of speculators I am now opposing, for two 
reasons. First, they will say any thing rather than 
give up their pre- conceived opinions. That their 
opinions are merely preconceived, any person may 
easily discern, who examines their writings with any 
degree of attention. To prove that they will say 
any thing, I need only refer the reader to two 
assertions made by two of their most learned advo- 
cates, relative to the innocence and purity of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. One of them speaks of him as 
"fallible and peccable and the other says, we have 
" no sufficient data by which to determine whether 
during his private, as well as public life, he was free 
from sin or not ; and that is is to us a matter of no 
material consequence But what saith the Scrip- 
tures : — "To the law and to the testimony; if we speak 
not according to this word, it is because there is no 
light in us." If we examine both Testaments, we 
shall invariably find that they represent Jesus Christ 
as a holy and innocent character, without the least 
iota of impurity or inherent depravity. Hence, 
says the Apostle — " Such an high- priest became 
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from 
sinners, and made higher than the heavens ; who 
needeth not daily, as those high- priests, to offer up 
sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the 
people's. "f 6i He did no sin, neither was guile 
found in his mouth." " Ye are redeemed with the 

* Priestley and Belshat*. f Heb. vii. 26, 27. 
b 3 



18 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



)>recious blood of Christ, as of a lamb, zcithout 
blemish and without spot."* " He was manifested 
to take away our sins ; and in him is !m sin"f 
Are not these declarations sufficient to satisfy every 
uiind that feels itself bound by the authority of the 
Scriptures ? If Jesus Christ contained within 
himself the least inherent depravity, or committed 
the slightest evil, all these Scripture designations 
of him must be considered as the mere rhaphsody of 
admiration, or the unmeaning bombast of eulogy. 
It perhaps is of no meterial consequence to the 
frozen-hearted Unitarian, whether Christ was a 
sinner or not; but to every sound Christian, it is a 
matter of the greatest importance; for if Jesus 
Christ was a sinner, or an unholy being, the whole 
system of Christianity tumbles into ruins. 

The second reason why it is extremely difficult 
to maintain a process of Scriptural reasoning with 
these men, is, that the notions which they entertain 
respecting the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, 
are so very vague, futile, and undefined. 

" The Scriptures," says one of their most eminent 
writers, M were written without any particular in- 
spiration, by men who wrote according to the best 
of their knowledge, and who, from circumstances, 
could not be mistaken with regard to the greater 
facts of which they were properly zdtnesses ; but, 



* 1 Peter ii, 22. i. 19. 11 John 3— o. 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



19 



(like other men subject to prejudice) might be liable 
to adopt a hasty and ill-grounded opinion concern- 
ing things which did not fall within the compass of 
their own knowledge, and which had no connection 
with any thing that was so. We ought all of us, 
therefore, to consider ourselves fully at liberty to 
examine, with the greatest rigour, both the reason- 
ings of the writers, and the facts of which we find 
any account in their writings ; that, judging by the 
rules of just criticism, we may distinguish what 
may be depended on from what may not."* 

" I like the honesty of this avowal," (says a 
learned critic,) " but I presume you will agree with 
me in thinking, that Deism ought to have been the 
profession of him who makes it." Every one must 
at once perceive, that according to this view of the 
Scriptures, there is nothing certain in them. And 
if we deny the infallibility of the Holy Sbriptures, 
and look upon them as the fallible productions of 
men, all our hopes of arriving at truth must be 
totally eclipsed, and the bright prospects of futurity 
be overspread with blackness and darkness for ever. 
Therefore, the reasoning of those men who deny 
that the writers of both Testaments were constant- 
ly under infallible guidance, is a dangerous error ; 
the most animating doctrines of the gospel are left 
entirely uncertain — a ground is laid for heart- 
rending doubts and fearful anticipations, which no- 
* Priestley's History of Early Opinions, vol. iv. p. 5. 



20 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



firing can remove, but a firm persuasion that the 
sacred writers wrote their histories under the 
immediate agency and superintendence of the Di- 
vine Spirit. The same writer, in speaking of the 
Arian opinion, that the world was formed by Jesus 
Christ as a subordinate agent of the Father, has 
these words : " Now, as it is not pretended that 
there are any miracles adapted to prove that Christ 
made and supports the world, 1 do not see that we 
are under any obligation to believe it, merely be- 
cause it was an opinion held by an apostle."* 

Dr. Priestley made no scruple " to call the apostle 
St. Paul an inconclusive reasoner."f <• Neither 1," 
says he to Dr. Price, <; nor I presume yourself, be- 
lieve implicitly every thing which is advanced by 
any writer in the Oid or New Testament. 1 believe 
them to have been men, and therefore fallible." 
And again : "That the books of Scripture were 
written by particular divine inspiration, is a thing 
to which the writers themselves make no preten- 
sions." But let the Apostles speak for themselves : 
" But there be some that trouble you, and would 
pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or 
an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto 
you, thau that which we have preached unto 
you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so 
say I now again, If any man preach any other gos- 

* Priestley's History of Early Opinions, p. 63. 
f Priestley's Corruptions of Christianity, voJ. ii. p. 370 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



21 



pel unto you than that ye have received, let him 
be accursed. But I certify you, brethren, that 
the gospel which was preached of me is not 
after man. For 1 neither received it of man, nei- 
ther was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus 
Christ. Now the things which I write unto you, 
behold, before God, I lie not."* And again he 
says, " And my speech and my preaching was not 
with enticing words of man's w isdom, but in demon* 
stration of the Spirit and of power : that your faith 
should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the 
power of God."f Now, reader, judge for yourself. 
Can the gospel, which was inculcated by the Apos- 
tle, be both a revelation from God, and at the same 
time, fallible production of men ? Impossible ! 
If we deny the universal inspiration of the Scriptures, 
we involve ourselves in a dilemma from which we 
cannot easily extricate ourselves. But the writer to 
whom I have all along referred, goes farther than 
this in one of his letters to Dr. Price, relative to 
the pre-existence of Jesus Christ, and says, "I 
would not build an article of faith of such magni- 
tude, on the correction of John's recollection and 
representation of our Lord's language : and so 
strange and incredible does the hypothesis of a pre- 
existcnt state appear, that, sooner than admit it, 
I wo||d suppose the whole verse to be an interpola- 
tion, or that the old apostle dictated one thing, and 
* Gal. i. 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 20. f 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5. 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



his amanuensis wrote another."* Hence, it ap- 
pears, that Dr. Priestley would believe any tiling 
however monstrous, rather than the plain and obvi- 
ous meaning of the words of Scripture. Although 
all the writers of this class may not reject, in terms 
equally unqualified, the inspiration of the sacred 
Scriptures, yet they are all characterized by the 
same homogeneal laxity, relative to this important 
point. Another of them says, that " Peter speaks 
according to the conception of the Jews, when he 
says, Prophecy came not in old time by the will of 
man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved 
by the Holy Ghost ; f? and adds, " the prophets may 
have delivered the offspring of their own brains as 
divine revelation." And another says, u what have 
we to do with the New Testament, when it contra- 
dicts the light of nature r" I ask, where does the 
Scripture contradict reason ; for I suppose that is 
what he means by the tight of nature* There are 
many doctrines contained in the Scripture, which 
are necessarily above reason ; but it does not follow 
that they are contrary to it. Mr. Belsham says, 
that "Paul in his Epistles, introduces many liarsh 
and uncommon figures."f Again, lie says, " The 
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews indulges him- 
self in an ingenious, but forced and fanciful an- 
alogy. "J ^ay, he goes farther than this, for he 

* Priestley's Letters to Dr. Price, page 58. 
t 1*1% ifetetmii'js Calm Inquiry, p. 19. J Ibid, p. 19. 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



23 



says, that " our Lord sometimes uses metaphors of 
the most obscure and offensive kind"* 

1 hope these quotations are sufficient to shew how 
\ague and undefined are the opinions of this class 
of men respecting the inspiration of the Holy Scrip- 
tures : for if we give up their universal inspiration, 
we must look upon them as a mixed compound. And 
how am I to distinguish between that which is in- 
inspired, and that which is not ? Here is a founda- 
tion for doubting ; by this our confidence is at once 
destroyed ; the mind is carried into the cold regions 
of barren speculation, and is lost in the great vortex 
of infidelity. This is a subject of importance, and 
one which ought to be carefully studied by every 
Christian, in order that he may render a reason for 
the hope that is in him. 

That the Scriptures were written by plenary in- 
spiration, is a doctrine that has been believed 
through successive ages, and has remained impreg- 
nable to all the shafts of impious ridicule, and un- 
shaken by the bolder artillery of blasphemous invec- 
tive. " Some men," says a learned author, " have 
adopted very strange and dangerous notions, respect- 
ing the inspiration of the Scriptures. Dr Priestley 
denies that they were written by a particular divine 
inspiration ; and asserts, that the writers, though 
men of the greatest probity, were fallible, and have 
actually committed mistakes in their narrations and 
* Ibid. p. 18. 



24 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



their reasonings. Rat this man and his followera, 
find it their interest to weaken and set aside the 
authority of the Scriptures, as they have adopted a 
system of religion from which all the distinguishing 
doctrines of revelation are excluded. Others con- 
sider the Scriptures as inspired in those places where 
they profess to deliver the Word of God ; but in 
other places, especially in the historical part, they 
ascribe to them only the same authority which is 
due to the writings of well-informed and upright 
men. But as this distinction is perfectly arbitrary, 
having no foundation in any thing said by the sacred 
writers themselves, so it is liable to very material 
objections : it represents our Lord and his Apostles, 
when they spoke of the Old Testament, as having 
attested, without any exception or limitation, a 
number of books as divinely inspired, while some 
of them were partly, and some were almost entirely 
human compositions : it supposes the writers of both 
Testaments to have profanely mixed their own 
productions with the dictates of the Spirit, and to 
have passed the unhallowed compound on the world 
as genuine. In fact, by denying that they were 
constantly under infallible guidance, it leaves us 
utterly at a loss to know when we should or should 
not believe them. If they could blend their own 
stories with the revelations made to them, how can 
I be certain that they have not on some occasions 
published in the name of God, sentiments of their 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS 



25 



own, to which they were desirous to gain credit and 
authority ? Who will assure me of their perfect 
fidelity in drawing a line of distinction between the 
divine and the human parts of their writings ? The 
denial of the plenary inspiration of the Scripture, 
tends to unsettle the foundation of our faith, in- 
volves us in doubt and perplexity, and leaves us no 
other method of ascertaining how much we should 
believe, but an appeal to reason. But when reason 
is invested with the authority of a judge, not only 
is revelation dishonoured, and its author insulted, 
but the end for which it was given is completely 
defeated." 

Hence it is certain, that to suppose that the sa- 
cred pages are partly divine and partly human, is 
an exitious error, for it leaves us entirely in doubt 
which to believe as divinely inspired. The mind 
is carried into barren climes of confusion and uncer- 
tainty, and instead of arriving at truth, gives up its 
pursuit as a painful and unprofitable research. The 
denial of the full or complete inspiration of the 
Scriptures, opens a door for infidelity, which all the 
energies of those who deny the fact will never be 
able to shut. And instead of the Scriptures being 
a solid foundation, upon which to build our faith, 
there can be no firm ground of trust placed in them, 
no settled hope, no permanent consolation — timid- 
ity and gloom must inhabit every bosom, and ren- 
der life, in many instances, a burthen. 

c 



26 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



Some, perhaps, may ask, why are the opinions of 
the Unitarians so loose relative to this important 
point ? — the answer is obvious : because the Unita- 
rians know, if they should admit that the Scriptures 
were written by plenary inspiration, their system 
-would be swept away with an eternal sweep. "It 
is ever in vain that man essays to pierce the un- 
fathomable arcana of the skies. By his limited 
faculties, and superficial ken, the deep things of 
eternity are not to be scanned." The brightest 
seraph that encircles the throne of the Invisible, or 
the highest order of possible intelligence, could ne- 
ver make known one single counsel or purpose of the 
divine mind, unless it had been previously revealed. 
Nay, sooner could finite comprehend infinite, and 
the less incircle the greater, or a part contain the 
whole, of which itself is but a part, than that the 
unfathomed counsels of Deity could be known but 
by a revelation from himself. 

Reader, whoever you are, or by whatever name 
you are called, unless you admit of the plenary in- 
spiration of the Scriptures, you have no resting 
place for thought, but are in danger of falling a 
prey to the wiles of sophistry, and the imposing in- 
fluence of high pretensions to learning and candour. 
There are many arguments which I might advert to 
in order to prove that the Scriptures were written 
by plenary inspiration, not to mention the power of 
working miracles, or the fulfilments of prophecy, 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



27 



which speaks their origin divine. And be it known, 
that they who reject the authority of the Scripture, 
reject a part of the purest philosophy which ever 
occupied the pens of writers, and truth which is 
more immutable than nature itself. 1 would ob- 
serve, that if you take away the plenary inspiration 
of the Scriptures, and look upon the writers as fal- 
lible, and liable to err while they wrote the sacred 
pages — I would ask, how I am to know the truth of 
any doctrine, or to what must I appeal ? If I ap- 
peal to the Scriptures, how do I know but those very 
parts unto which I make ray appeal, are only falli- 
ble productions of erring mortals? Hence, it is 
evident, if we deny the plenary inspiration of the 
Scriptures, we must for ever wander in the great 
wilderness of uncertainty, and at last end in the 
dismal quicksand of infidelity. The Scripture, as 
an inspired whole, is ray glory ; for when I read 
my Bible, I admire its native energy and unadorned 
phrase : in its didactive parts, what simplicity, art- 
lessness, candour, and sincerity ; in the prophetic, 
what beauty and impressiveness ; and, in its sub- 
lime, how eminently just and lovely. In a word, 
the Scripture language is remarkable for its sub- 
limity. Each writer is distinguished for peculiar 
beauties ; but the general style of all may be cha- 
racterized as strong, animated, and impressive. Its 
ornaments are derived, not from an accumulation of 
epithets or laboured harmony, but from the real 



28 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



grandeur of its imagery, and the majestic force of 
its expression. It is varied with striking propriety, 
and enlivened with quick, but easy transitions. Its 
sudden burst of eloquence, its earnest warmth, its 
affecting exhortations and appeals, afford very in- 
teresting proof of that lively impression and inspired 
conviction, under which the writers wrote and spake, 
and which enabled them, among a people not dis- 
tinguished for genius, to surpass, in every variety 
of composition, the most admired productions of 
pagan antiquity. Is there any book in the world, 
so perfectly adapted to all capacities, that contains 
such sublime and exalted precepts, conveyed in such 
an artless and intelligible strain, and that can be 
read with such pleasure and advantage, by the let- 
tered sage ; or the unlettered peasant ? 



CHAP. II. 



The Introduction of Moral Evil considered. 

It is self evident, that there is moral and physical 
evil in the world. And various have been the 
theories which men have adopted, in order to ac- 
count for its introduction. Some have endeavoured 
to account for its introduction by iron-handed fate 
and destiny \ consequently, they have made God the 
author of all the evil in the world. While others, 
not less absurd, ascribe its origin to bad example, 
and a corrupt education. It is the last opinion 
which I shall endeavour to confute, as it is adopted 
by this class of men, who are falsely designated 
44 rational Christians." 

I am inclined to think, that Mr. H., as an indi- 
vidual, believes that we were created by God ; and 
this being admitted, he cannot deny that the power 
which created all things, must be the general Parent 
of the universe ; and that this great, exalted, and 
incomprehensible Being, is perfection itself, in all 
uncreated, original, necessary, and never ceasing 
extremes. In fine, what we conceive of God, is an 
assemblage of all possible perfection, abstracted 
from ail possible moral evil. It is to this great 
and exalted being we now turn our attention, and 

c 3 



30 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED* 



ask, of what nature and essential properties did he 
create man ? It is infallibly certain, that that Being 
who is infinitely holy, and contains within himself 
an unchangeable hatred to evil, could not but 
create man in a state of moral rectitude. Accord- 
ing to every conception we can form of the wisdom 
and goodness of the Deity, as well as according to 
the most express and unequivocal language of 
Scripture—" God made man upright." For to say 
that God created him morally evil, is to charge God 
with the turpitude of every bad action, and to de- 
stroy those attributes which are essential to his 
nature and existence. Therefore, " God created 
man in his own likeness, in the image of God created 
he him j" and that image, saith the apostle, consists 
in righteousness and true holiness. 

Again, man was not only created without the 
least iota of inherent depravity, but he was furnished 
with a clear and sagacious mind, with reason bright 
and strong, and possessed transcendent qualifica- 
tions for the most elevated happiness. But that he 
might be accountable, he was necessarily created 
free; and that he might never forget that he was 
under the cognizance and dominion of a moral 
Governor, a test of obedience was set before him. 
And in this respect, God did not deal worse with 
man than with other creatures ; he pointed out to 
them their respective laws by instinct ; but as man 
was designed to be a distinguished link in the great 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



31 



chain of being, God entered into a covenant with 
him, and gave hiui a law, not only as a test of 
obedience, but as a proof of dependence, and as an 
incitement to gratitude. This law was easy to be 
obeyed, because it was plain to be understood. 
The greater the injunction, the more severity 
would have appeared, and the more circumscribed 
must have been human liberty ; but God, on the 
present occasion, reduced the discharge of moral 
obligation to a single point, promising life on obe- 
dience, and threatening death on transgression. 
But what were the conditions on which these great 
events were suspended ? They follow — " Of every 
tree in the garden thou mayest freely eat ; but of 
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou 
shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest 
thereof thou shalt surely die,"* The cavil about 
this fruit being an object of temptation, is almost 
too absurd to deserve a specific notice ; for surely 
no being can be out of the reach of temptation but 
God alone. lie that is essentially, is only tf/f- 
changeably, good. I am well aware that not only 
infidels, but this class of men which I am opposing, 
cry out in the language of impious ridicule against 
this part of Sacred History ; and, say they, <s God 
cannot be supposed to have condemned mankind 
for the mere eating of an apple," This, however, 
is not the language of reason and common sense, 
* Gen, ii. 17. 



82 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED 



but of partiality and prejudice The phraseology 
here adopted is absolutely false and absurd, it in- 
timates that God was influenced in his condemna- 
tion of our first parents, by a resentment excited 
only by the value which he fixed on the forbidden 
fruit. As the value of the fruit was in a sense 
nothing, they therefore conclude that God could 
not prize it so. much, as to be angry at the trans- 
gression, much less to inflict so dreadful a punish- 
ment on the transgressor. Were the principle 
just, on which they profess to argue, I would readily 
admit it, as would every other sensible man. But 
the principle itself has no connection with the sub- 
ject ; the argument founded upon it is therefore 
without the least foundation. Such views of God 
as these, are not taught in the history, nor in any 
part of the sacred record. The Scriptures univer- 
sally declare that our first parents were condemned, 
because they disobeyed their Maker, revolted from 
his authority, and rebelled against his government. 
The fruit, whatever it was, was plainly of no value 
to him, at whose bidding suns lighted up their 
fires, systems rolled to fulfil his pleasure, and 
who could in a moment call into existence a world, 
or a million of worlds, with all their magnificent 
furniture. The guilt of our first parents lay solely 
in rebelling against God, or in eating of that fruit 
in opposition to his command, and for this they 
were condemned and punished. 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



33 



Again, we are informed that the Serpent, or 
Tempter, who had fallen from his dignity and glory, 
into a state of degradation and misery, envying the 
happiness of our first parents, premeditated their 
ruin ; and with all the craft and subtlety imagin- 
able, accosted the general parents of mankind, and 
by reason of his cunning and falsehood, he pre- 
vailed with this happy and innocent pair to rebel 
against their Maker, and to sin against his infinite 
Majesty. Thus they fell from their original and 
happy state, and, according to the constitution of 
things, " brought death into the world, and all our 
woe." By this means the first man was stripped of 
his original righteousness, and became the subject 
of moral and physical evil. 

Should it be asked, what are moral and physical 
evil ? I answer, that moral evil is not only the 
practice of sin, but a never failing tendency to it, 
which is inherent depravity, or that principle of 
corruption which inheres in the constitution of every 
moral being in the world. And that physical evil 
is not only those pains and diseases which are inci- 
dental to the human system, but all those dreadful 
evils and calamities that follow in such rapid suc- 
cession in this lower world, even all " the ills that 
flesh is heir to." 

But still it is asked, from whence arises this evil 
principle, or how came it to exist ? I answer, that 
it is a self-evident truth, that there cannot be aa 



34 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



effect without a cause, and that the cause of this 
effect is the violation of the law of God. For the 
very mention of moral evil pre-supposes a deviation 
from moral rectitude, and till that took place, there 
could never be an evil principle. It is a contradic- 
tion in terms to suppose an evil principle to propel 
when it zcas not, or to act before it had an existence. 
The inquiry now renews itself — How can a holy 
principle violate the law of God, or commit an un- 
holy action ? I suppose the inquirer means by the 
term principle, that never-failing tendency to equity 
and uprightness, which inhered in the constitution 
of man previously to the introduction of moral evil. 
A holy principle could not commit an unholy ac- 
tion, or the least evil whatever, as evil. To sup- 
pose this, would be to suppose an impossibility, and 
a downright contradiction. For it would be to sup- 
pose a principle to act diametrically opposite to its 
nature. Yet, at the same time I would observe, 
that man, as a moral beiug, must he free to act, for 
free-agency arises necessarily from the nature of 
man. Again, man as a finite creature was not only 
mutable, but likewise liable to be deceived. For 
immutability aud infallibility are infinite perfec- 
tions ; therefore they could never exist in a finite 
creature. From these premises we conclude, that 
our first parents, though holy, were fallible, and 
that they were deceived into the commission of an 
act of disobedience; through the supposition of some 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



35 



supposed good, without the least idea or apprehen- 
sion of any evil whatever. Forfif there be a law of 
nature, which there is, they could never choose evil 
for its own sake. Wherefore, man as a holy being-, 
violated a holy law, through the supposition of some 
supposed or fancied good, without the least idea of 
any evil whatever, as evil. For a holy principle 
could not propel to the commission of an unholy 
action, neither could an evil principle act before it 
had an existence. Therefore, the violation of the 
law of God, is the cause of which moral evil is an 
effect ; and physical evil follows as a just punish- 
ment for such violation and rebellion. 

This view is fully corroborated by Scripture and 
reason ; for Satan, the arch deceiver of mankind, 
said to our first parents, N For God doth know, that 
as soon as you have eaten of this fruit, you will be 
benefited by it, for your eyes shall be opened, and 
ye shall be as gods."* As much as if Satan 
had said, Such is the efficacy and virtue of this tree, 
that by eating of it, your minds will be more illu- 
minated, and you will be filled with divine know- 
ledge like your Maker. And when the guilty cul- 
prits were going through a process of strict exami- 
nation before their Maker, Eve expressly said " the 
Serpent beguiled me."f The apostle St. Paul, in 
his second Epistle to the CorinthianSjJ alludes to 



* Gen. iii. 5. f Ibid. iii. 13. % 2 Cor. xi. 3. 



30 



MORAL EYIL CONSIDERED. 



the same subject : " 1 fear, lest by any means as 
the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so 
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity 
that is in Christ." And when writing to his son 
Timothy, he said, " The woman being deceived, 
was in the transgression."* Thus both Testaments 
agree in establishing the opinion given above. And 
again, to those who examine the nature of moral 
beings, their secret springs of action, and the phy- 
sical modes and operations of intellect, it will ap- 
pear evident, that no external force can compel the 
will to choose any thing but under the notion of 
comparative goodness ; therefore reason and Scrip- 
ture fully harmonize, and the Mosaic account of the 
introduction of moral evil into this world, stands 
upon a firm and immutable basis, which defies all 
opposition, from whatever quarter it may come ; and 
the hopes of every orthodox Christian are built up- 
on an invulnerable foundation, which has stood firm 
and secure from the commencement of time to the 
present day, and will remain steadfast as long as 
eternity endures. Amidst the fluctuations and 
changes of political principle, this remains un- 
changed. "Christianity," says Dr. Paley, "hath 
travelled through dark and turbulent ages ; never- 
theless, it came out of the cloud and the storm such 
in substance as it entered in." And in spi(e of the 



* 1 Tim. ii. 14. 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



37 



blasphemous invective poured from the pens and 
lips of Infidels, and the activity with which the anti- 
christian dogmas, and disgustful heterodoxy of Uni- 
tarianism are propagated, truth will rise triumphant, 
and they will all be coufounded. 

It will perhaps be said, " That if we admit that 
our first parents were deceived, either by the sub- 
tilty of an agent, or by the plausibility of a certain 
motive, their guilt shrinks to almost a nonentity, 
and their punishment bears no proportion to their 
crime." Although such an objection may seem 
plausible, I conceive it to be entirely founded upon 
an erroneous idea, relative to the speciousness of the 
motive which induced them to act, without taking 
into consideration the evil nature of the means. For 
if the temptation, or the motive which induced 
them thus to act, had been ten thousand times more 
plausible, they ought not to have complied with 
such inducement, so long as its tendency led to a 
violation of a positive injunction, given to them by 
their sovereign benefactor. Suppose the present 
king were to give to one of his subjects a positive 
command, founded upon reason, and agreeable to 
the nature and circumstances of the individual to 
whom it was given, threatening him with the most 
severe punishment in case of violation ; and, vice 
versa, if he obeyed, he would confer upon him every 
privilege and blessing which his realm would afford. 
Now, if the individual were to buffer himself to be 

D 



38 MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 

deceived, either by the specious reasoning of an in- 
telligent agent, or the mere inducement of a certain 
motive, so as to violate the command of his majesty, 
would he not be guilty of downright rebellion, and 
would it not be just that the threatened penalty 
should take place ? Whatever are the motives and 
inducements by which we act and pursue our vari- 
ous projects, we ought never to overlook the means, 
under any pretext that may be suggested, but con- 
nect the means and the benefit to be obtained to- 
gether. Should an object present itself to our view, 
the obtaining of which would be of great personal 
advantage, yet, at the same time, if this object can- 
not be obtained without violating either -the law of 
God, or the laws of our country, or that rule of re- 
ciprocal justice, " whatsoever ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so to them we ought, 
as rational beings, to give up the pursuit of such an 
object, however plausible and good it may appear, 
abstracted from the means by which it is to be ob- 
tained. Therefore, whatever were the motive, 
whatever were the agent, which tempted our first 
parents, they ought, with invincible firmness, to 
have repelled the temptation, and adhered firmly to 
the command given to them by the God of the 
universe. 

Again, the rebellion of the first man against his 
Maker, was a sin so universal in its nature, as to in- 
volve mankind in its guilt in all ages of the world. 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



39 



The account which is given in the Scripture, is 
grounded on the relation which all men have to 
Adam as their natural head. Adam, in his pris- 
tine perfection, had the privilege of immortality, 
but by him "sin entered into the world, and death 
by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that 
all have sinned." An hereditary corruption is trans- 
mitted to all that naturally descend from him. It 
is the universal and unchangeable law of nature, 
that every thing produces its like, not only in re- 
gard of the same nature that is propagated from 
one individual to another, without a change of the 
species, but in respect of the qualities with which 
that nature is eminently affected. As it is natural, 
so it is universal — " Who can bring a clean thing 
out of an unclean ?" That is, how can a righteous 
person be born of a sinner ? The answer is peremp- 
tory — not one. The fountain was poisoned in 
Adam, and all the streams partake of the infection. 

" Can filthy dross produce a golden beam, 
u Or poisou'd springs a salutif'rous stream ? 

But, the Unitarians say in opposition to all this— 
" We admit the fact of the great, though not uni- 
versal wickedness that prevails in the world, but 
we cannot assent to what you give as the Natural 
History of it. We do not think it inseparable from 
man's present nature, but an accidental acqusition ; 
we do not ascribe it to the influence of an heredi- 



40 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



tary taint, but conceive it to be the effect of imita- 
tion and custom, of acquired habit, of corrupt ex- 
ample, of injudicious tuition." " This, by the way," 
says Dr. Gregory, " is only saying in other words, 
that depravity is the effect of depravity. Let us, 
however, examine the matter a little more closely. 
The vile passions may in some be the result of im- 
proper tuition, or of imitation, 1 have no inclination 
to deny ; but they cannot always be referred to such 
an origin. How often do we see children in their 
veriest infancy, exhibit strong and unquestionable 
indications of boisterous tempers, of obstinacy, or 
impatience. How often do children of the most 
pious parents, who are so brought up, as during 
the first six or seven years of their lives never to 
witness any species of crime, any instance of ingra- 
titude, of falsehood, or deception, or any indul- 
gence in irascible passions, furnish painful proofs 
that they can be deceivers, wilful liars, ungrateful, 
passionate, malignant, and unforgiving ? These 
instances, I will venture to say, occur very fre- 
quently, when it is impossible to ascribe them to 
imitation. But suppose the contrary were admitted, 
the opposers of the scriptural doct? ines would gain 
nothing by the concession ; for of whom could a 
child acquire iniquity by imitation, but of some one 
that was born before him ? and whom did that per- 
son imitate but some one born before him ? and 
where must this series terminate ? Jf you say any 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



41 



where short of the first man, you have to account 
for the remarkable phenomenon of sin making its 
first inroad at the identical time, and fixing upon 
the identical person you have selected, and this will 
be found infinitely more difficult, than extending 
the series to the great progenitors of the human 
race Besides, does not the very circumstance of 
an aptitude to imitate evil, and rather to imitate 
evil than good, indicate something like that hered- 
itary taint which is brought forward to contravene 
and supersede ? Can an inherent tendency to 
imitate evil, an undeviating propensity to slide into 
vice, (unless the strong hand of moral discipline, 
or the suasive influence of Divine grace prevents.) 
be fairly or rationally ascribed to any thing less than 
such a cause as that with which the Bible makes 
us acquainted f" If good and evil were but mere 
accidents of the mind, then we might rationally 
expect to find as many morally good a& morally 
evil ; but both Scripture and facts repulse this con- 
clusion. Now, as the human heart tends universally 
to evil, and as there are none but what are contam- 
inated, there cannot be a more cogent proof than 
that some evil principle predominates Bad exam- 
ple may influence the present generation of men, 
but it could not influence where it was not, nor act 
before it had a beginning, and there was a time 
when bad example was not. As moral evil, there- 
fore, must have been introduced, and have existed 



42 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



prior to bad example, bad example could not be 
the primary cause of moral evil. Mr. H. can no 
more account lor the introduction of moral evil into 
this world, than for those phenomena of nature, 
which lie beyond the confines of human perception. 
He denies the account which is given in the sacred 
Scriptures, therefore he is obliged to wander upon 
a pathless ocean of uncertainty, confined in the 
barren precincts of speculation, and liable to fall a 
victim to the imposing influence of anti- christian 
dogmatism. 

Again, it is maintained by some, " that evil is 
necessary, and that we can have no knowledge of 
good but by contrasting it with its opposite." It 
is an unquestionable fact, that in the natural world, 
physical reverses frequently give a colouring to 
each other ; and it is equally true, that in the moral 
history of our species, the splendour of virtuous 
actions is rendered more eminent by the deepness 
of those shades with which these actions are con- 
trasted. " It will be readily admitted, that no 
satisfactory reason can be drawn from pure abstract 
principle, why such reverses should seem necessary 
to give distinctness to each other. But the fact is 
indisputable, and it may be traced without difficulty 
to the present state of our mental constitution. 
There can be no doubt whatever, that every good, 
whether natural, moral, intellectual, or spiritual, is 
capable in itself of shining by its own inherent 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



43 



brilliancy. It would be nothing short of a severe 
reflection on the infinitely wise Creator to suppose, 
that he has given being to excellencies which could 
only be rendered distinctly visible by the physical 
reverses of themselves. According to such a con- 
stitution of things, even natural good would be in- 
debted for the brightest display of its lustre, to 
natural evil ; but how any thing can be considered 
as a natural evil, which is essentially necessary to 
the developement of natural good, is a problem 
which we cannot solve, without impeaching the 
source of Infinite Wisdom. 

If from natural good and evil, we turn our at- 
tention to that which is moral, the atmosphere with 
which we are encircled becomes still more dense, 
and we find the clouds of confusion gathering round 
us in every direction, and presenting us with dark- 
ness which we cannot pierce. To say that moral 
evil is necessary to unfold in all its beauty the ut- 
most perfection of moral good, is to destroy the 
essence of vice ; and, in au alembic of mental che- 
mistry, to transmute it into virtue. To assert that 
the existence of vice is necessary to that of virtue, or, 
that the display of the former is necessary to that of 
the latter, is a solecism in language, and is little less 
than a contradiction in terms. It natural and moral 
good were incapable of shining by their own intrinsic 
lustre, reason would compel us to infer, that each is 
defective in its own nature ; and from this inference 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



we could scarcely draw any conclusion which would 
not amount to an impeachment of the Author of 
both. We can by no means suppose, that glorified 
spirits in heaven, (whether we consider them as na- 
tives of the celestial region, or as taken from our 
terrestrial abode,) can stand in need of such an 
unnatural aid, to make them sensible of the value 
and importance of felicity. And if moral evil had 
not debased the human intellect, and, in its moral 
consequences, disorganized the system of nature, 
we have no more reason to suppose, that evil in any 
form, would have been either absolutely or relatively 
necessary, to give us the instructions which we are 
now compelled to learn from it in our present state, 
than that it is necessary in heaven. The only 
rational inference which we can draw from the 
whole amounts to this, that in the same proportion 
as we find the existence of evil in any form neces- 
sary to make us sensible of the value of good, we 
behold evidences of our degeneracy, both as to its 
extent and its degree. 

The soul influenced by divine grace, and raised 
from a death of sin to a life of righteousness, will 
be taught to rise above this chequered state of 
things, to lay hold on the spiritual good of which 
it is called to partake, and to behold its beauty by 
its native light."* 

Again, some will ask — " Why did not God pre- 
* Imperial Magazine. 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED* 



45 



vent the introduction of evil ? Was it because he 
could not ? If he could not, where is his infinite 
power ? And if he could, seeing that he did not, 
where is his holiness and goodness ?" To which I 
answer, what God can do, or what he cannot do, I 
dare not pretend to say. Yet, at the same time, I 
may venture to affirm, without fear of contradiction, 
that God could not prevent the introduction of evil 
consistent with his moral government and the nature 
of man. As for infinite power, it is out of the 
question. Man, as a moral agent, must be free to 
act, consequently he was capable of a law. There- 
fore, the government that was necessary for God 
to exercise over him, was a moral government, 
which government consists of laws, promises, threat- 
enings, rewards, and punishments. Infinite power 
could have prevented the introduction of eyil, by 
depriving him of his will ; or it could have interfered 
on the occasion. But had God, in order to prevent 
man from violating his command, taken away the 
liberty of his will, or interfered on the occasion, he 
would likewise have destroyed the foundation of all 
virtue, and the very nature of man. 

It was necessary that man should first be placed 
in a state of trial, before he was confirmed in his hap- 
piness. Had he obeyed to the end of his probation, 
he would no doubt have been raised to an unchange- 
able state ; his innocence and obedience would 
have been crowned with perseverance. The per- 



46 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



mission of the fall, does not reflect on God's un- 
spotted providence ; for the law which he gave to 
direct man, the terrible threatnings annexed to 
warn him, proves his irreconcileable hatred to evil. 
Neither does it tarnish the Divine purity or holiness ; 
for man was made upright, he had no inherent cor- 
ruption to betray him, he had power to resist the 
strongest temptation. In this situation, he waa 
removed far from death and disease, sorrow and 
fear ; he was formed for endless improvement. His 
mind, like that of the angels, was capable of con- 
tinual expansion, refinement, and elevation > and 
his life, of perpetual exaltation in usefulness and 
honour. The tempter did only allure, he could not 
compel ; his powers are so limited, that he cannot 
fasten an immediate, much less an irresistible im- 
pression on the will. Therefore, a resolute negative 
would have made him victorious. Nor does it tar- 
nish the rich goodness of God, because he bestowed 
on man every qualification relative to his persever- 
ance; and it is unjust and unreasonable to judge 
of the value of a benefit, by the ungrateful abuse 
of the receiver, and not from its own nature. The 
evil of sin man has brought upon himself, and 
therefore it ought not to be imputed to any defect 
in the Divine goodness. A state of trial pre-sup- 
poses a liability to sin, and it cannot be proved that 
it is inconsistent with the Divine goodness of God, 
to place his rational creatures in a state of trial. 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



47 



Though Adam wilfully forfeited the favour of God, 
and lost his original righteousness, and incurred the 
just displeasure of an offended God ; thus ruined 
and helpless, God laid help on one that is mighty. 
Here, the wisdom and goodness of the Deity shines 
with amazing lustre, in as much as that he hath 
overruled the sin of Adam for good ; and wonder- 
fully devised a plan, that man, by repentance and 
faith in the atonement, may be emancipated from 
this scene of trouble, and translated to the realms 
of bliss, then — 

*? Blooming Eden withers in his sight, 
Death gives him more than was in Eden lost.*' 
By virtue of the redemption of Christ, the whole 
immense and eternal kingdom of Jehovah assumes 
a new aspect, and God is seen by his intelligent 
creatures in new manifestations of beauty, glory, 
and loveliness. O, goodness, truly divine ! Mighty 
love ! Love that glowed in the bosom of God from 
eternity ! Our salvation by Christ is the product 
of God's eternal thoughts — " He was delivered by 
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God." * 
What astonishing goodness is it, that Gud, who is 
the end of all things, should become the means of 
our salvation. What is so worthy of admiration, 
as that the Judge of heaven and earth should be 
condemned by the guilty — that he should leave his 
throne in heaven to be nailed to the cross — that the 
Prince of life should taste death ? Infinite love ! 
* Acts ii. 23. 



48 



MORAL EVIL CONSIDERED. 



which is as admirable as saving ! "Love that pass- 
eth knowledge." Well might an inspired apostle 
cry out in an ecstasy — " O, the depths of the riches 
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How 
unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past 
finding out."* In our redemption by Christ, hu- 
man nature is advanced to the highest pitch of dig- 
nity and glory. In the person of Christ, it is risen 
far beyond the confines of our mental perception ; 
but, thanks be to God, this we know, that every 
humble and pious Christian "shall be like him, for 
they shall see him as he is," " and be with him in 
glory." There the mercy of God, the most per- 
fect of his attributes, and the consummation of his 
excellence, will be made known more fully ; and 
those things, " into which the angels desire to look," 
will be unfolded in all their mysterious and awful 
grandeur. Throughout never-ending ages, virtuous 
minds will be enlarged with knowledge, exalted in 
happiness, and improved in dignity ; and their af- 
fections and praises become more refined und elevat- 
ed, in a rapid and regular succession. When the 
revolutions which now measure time shall be swal- 
lowed up in an unchangeable eternity, the saints of 
the Most High shall be for ever with their Lord. 
Hence, it is evident, that the glory of the redeem- 
ed as far exceeds the felicity of Adam in the highest 
state of his pristine vigour and perfection, as heaven 
is above the fading beauty of this terrestrial world. 
* Rom. xi. 33. 



CHAP. III. 

The Names given to Satan in the Scripture, explained. 

33 E FORE I enter on the consideration of this 
subject, it will be proper to observe, that the Uni- 
tarians deny the existence of angels, whether good 
or bad. Now, if there are no angels in existence, 
it is absolutely impossible that there can be a super- 
natural evil being, or Devil. If the existence of 
angels is incredible, it must be for one of the fol- 
lowing reasons : — 

1st. That the nature of things disprove their 
existence, or contains some evidence which renders 
it highly improbable : or, 

2d. That it is not sufficiently revealed in the 
Scripture, so as to command our belief. 

1st. It is not inconsistent with the nature of things, 
but highly probable, that there are in existence pure 
immaterial spirits, or angels. As God is a pure 
Spirit, and delights in the contemplation of his own 
manner of existence, it is far more reasonable to 
suppose that he would create beings as much like 
himself as possible, than that he should create 
beings compounded of matter and spirit, such as we 

E 



50 THE NAMES GIVEN TO SATAN 




are. Suppose, for instance, that we were totally 
unacquainted with the existence of either angels or 
men, pure spirits would seem more likely to be a 
part of the creation of God, than spirits united to 
bodies, beings wholly rational, than beings partly 
rational, and partly animal. 

In creating man, a new mystery is presented to 
our contemplation, viz. the union of soul and body, 
so accomplished as to constitute but one precipient 
being. Should the Unitarians object, and say — "we 
avoid this difficulty, by denying the existence of an 
^nmaterial soul in man." But this, by the bye, is 
only introducing to our view a ten times greater and 
more perplexing difficulty, an hypothesis so myste- 
rious, as to be no other than a gross absurdity and 
contradiction in terms : viz. the doctrine of co&i- 
tative, or thinking matter ; for we might as well 
talk of a square circle, or a part being greater than 
the whole, of which itself is but a part, as to sup- 
pose, that that which is simple and indivisible, to be 
a property of that which is compound. 

Hence, it is highly probable, from reason and 
analogy, that there are pure immaterial spirits, or 
angels, in existence. For, as in the visible material 
world, we see no chasms, but a continued series of 
things descending in the scale of being from man by 
easy gradations ; so we have reason to think it 
suitable to the magnificent design of the great Ar- 
chitect of the universe, that the species of creatures 



IN THE SCRIPTURE, EXPLAINED. 



51 



should ascend by the same gentle gradations above 
us. And as we are much more remote from God, 
than we are from the lowest state of corporeal exist- 
ence ; so it is not improbable that there are far 
more kinds of spiritual existences than of embodied 
beings beneath us. Hence, we may conceive that 
there are in existence various orders of angelic 
natures. 

The declarations of the Bible, relative to the ex- 
istence of angels, are as numerous and express as 
language will admit. And it is truly astonishing, 
that any person should profess to receive the Scrip- 
tures as a Divine revelation, and yet at the same 
time deny their existence. A few passages 1 hope 
will be sufficient to settle this point beyond contra- 
diction. Jesus Christ said unto Peter — " Thinkest 
thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he 
shall presently give me more than twelve legions 
of angels that is, more than seventy-two thou- 
sand ; and the Psalmist declares, that 5* the chariots 
of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of an- 
gels ? *"f these are indefinite numbers, used to ex- 
press a very large one. Again he exclaims — " Bless 
the Lord, ye his angels, who excel in strength."! 
When the Saviour of mankind became incarnate^ 
Gabriel announced his birth to Zacharias and to 
Mary. An angel also proclaimed "glad tidings of 
great jof to the shepherds of Bethlehem ; and a 
* Matt. xxvi. 53. f Psalm Ixviii. 17. % ciii. 20, 



52 



THE NAMES GIVEN TO SATAN 



" multitude of the heavenly host praised God" on 
the same occasion, in the noblest anthem ever heard 
in this lower world, and sang — " Glory to God in 
the highest ! and on earth, peace, good- will towards 
men."* An angel rolled away the stone from the 
sepulchre of Christ — "His countenance was like 
lightning, and his raiment white as snow ; and for 
fear of him, the keepers became as dead men."f 
"I saw," says St. John, "another mighty angel come 
down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rain- 
bow was upon his head, and his face was as it were 
the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire."£ From 
hence, it is evident, that there are pure spirits or 
angels, in existence. " And before any one is so 
arrogant as to conclude that no Devil exists, he 
should first ascertain the improbability, and im- 
possibility of his existence ; but in order to this, 
it is absolutely necessary for him to comprehend 
the various links in the ascending chain of possible 
existences, to develope ti e realities of the unknown 
world, to prove that angels were not free agents ; 
or, if they were free agents, (which we have reason 
to believe,) in order to support the baseless hypothe- 
sis of no Devil, it must be proved, that they never, 
in a single instance, violated that compact, which, 
considering them as free agents, must necessarily 



* See Second Chapter of Luke* f Matt, xxviii. 2,3, 4. 
t Rev. x. I. 



IN THE SCRIPTURE, EXPLAINED. 



53 



exist between them and the Father of all spirits. 
But who are capable of fathoming this infinite, 
this bottomless abyss ? Where shall we begin ? 
The moment we attempt it we are lost ! We enter 
a region in which an impenetrable cloud every where 
encircles us ! we gaze and grope ! but all is dark ! all 
is unknown, and enveloped in the deepest mystery. 

Now, consonant with these remarks, is it reason- 
able to conclude, that no Devil exists ? Certainly not. 
Ignorance, and our inability to comprehend a fact, 
can never form a just, a philosophical basis, on 
which to build our conclusions, and rest the fabric 
of our faith. No, the only rational inference, under 
such circumstances, would be, that not being able 
to demonstrate the existence of the Devil, we have 
no right to conclude that be does exist ; but this 
would not at all sanction the conclusion that he does 
not exist ; because, this would be building the edi- 
fice of our knowledge on the very basis of ignorance, 
which is replete with absurdity. But, if we take 
the Scripture for our guide, and build the fabric of 
our speculations on the sure basis of eternal truth, we 
may, without involving ourselves in the painful 
drudgery of unprofitable research, easily discover the 
important doctrine of lapsed intelligencies, or existing 
Devils; a doctrine, which, if disbelieved, will open 
a door to infidelity, which all the energies of those 
who deny the fact, will never be able to shut. The 

term, Devil, is used in the Bible in almost innumer- 

e 3 



54 THE NAMES GIVEN TO SATAN 

able instances, and it is to the Bible alone that we 
must trace the true origin of the doctrine of De- 
vils ; for how, or where, or when, should any one 
dream of such a doctrine as this, a doctrine so un- 
iversally received, unless it were of Divine inspira- 
tion ? The Bible makes known to us, that which 
philosophy could never develope ; and I feel no 
hesitation in saying, that unless we admit infernal 
agency to be a Scripture doctrine, we can make no 
manner of sense of many of its parts; but it must 
be a complication of absurdities, a jumble of con- 
tradictions." 

And I may further add, that as philosophers by 
means of microscopes, have discovered to us vast 
tribes of insects in various parts of nature, which 
before were totally unknown to us ; so, Revelation 
may discover to us myriads of spirits, which, with- 
out such aid, would have escaped our notice, And 
it is as reasonable to suppose Revelation to be as 
proper a mean of discovering invisible spiritual 
beings in one case, as optical instruments are for the 
discovery of minute corporeal ones in the other. 

The names given to the arch-enemy of the human 
race in the Sacred Scriptures, are taken from the 
part he acts, and the different characters he assumes 
in the work of injuring the souls of men. It must 
not, however, be denied, that the names given to 
the Arch-deceiver, have sometimes ambiguous mean- 
ings. Sala?i 3 for instance, siguifles an adversary 



IN THE SCRIPTURE, EXPLAINED. 55 



among men and good angels, as well as among evil 
spirits- Peter was a Satan, {thai is, an adversary.) to 
our Lord.^ And the unbelieving Jews, the Satan or 
adversary, who hindered St. Paul's return to Thes- 
salonica.f But though we find an ambiguity in the 
terms that are given to the enemy of mankind ; yet, 
it would bean absurd and unwarranted conclusion, 
from such premises, to deny the existence of evil 
spirits. When he opposes the people of God as far 
■as he can, he is called Satan, which signifies an 
adversary ; one who stands in the way, or stops the 
I progress of another. When he works all the evil 
i that he can by himself, or by his servants, in the 
church, or in the world, he is called Belial ; which 
signifies one without yoke, or one who is not profit- 
; able to any, or without the Most High. W hen 
he endeavours to devour, he is called a roaring 
lion, in consequence of his fury and desperation. 
When he is represented as standing in the presence 
of God, accusing and condemning the best of men 
as far as he can, he is called the accuser of the bre- 
thren, or the Devil, which signifies a slanderer, or 
calumniator ; and when he acts as the destroyer, 
executing just vengeance upon the souls and bodies 
of the wicked, he is called Ahbaddon, that is, the 
destroyer ; and when he acts as the deceiver of men 
in general, he is called the old Serpent which de- 



* Matt, xv i. 23. \ 1 Tliess. ii. 18, 



56 THE NAMES GIVEN TO SATAN 



ceiveth the world. And as he acted the subtle 
part of the cunning deceiver at first, he is called the 
Serpent. He is called agreed and red Dragon, not 
only in respect of his great strength, aud bloody 
cruelty against the saints ; but because of the 
poisonous nature of those principles which he is 
endeavouring to propagate, either by his own imme- 
diate agency, or that of his servants. He is called 
the old Serpent, meaning that serpent which of old 
at the beginning deceived our first parents, and is 
still deceiving the world. He is styled the Tempter, 
which is his constant practice. He bribes some 
with profit, and allures others with pleasure. He 
is surprisingly subtle, his strength is great, but not 
omnipotent ; his malice is deadly, his activity and 
perseverance are equal to his enmity, and he has a 
great number of demons at his command. 

Again, the Apostle St Paul, in his Second Epis- 
tle to the Corinthians, calls Satan " the God of this 
zcorld;" because he sways his sceptre in the hearts 
of the children of disobedience. And our Saviour 
styles him, " a prince ," in the 12th chapter of St. 
John's Gospel — "Now shall the Prince of this 
world be cast out." That is, Satan, the ruler and 
god of this world, shall be dethroned from that em- 
pire which he has so long usurped over the minds of 
men, and especially over the heathen nations. And 
again, Jesus saith — " the Piince of this world 
cometh and hath nothing in me." By which ex- 



IN THE SCRIPTURE, EXPLAINED, 



57 



pression he informed his disciples, that Satan, the 
Prince of the apostate world, was coming to encoun- 
ter him ; not only by the most dismal suggestions 
and allurements, but by raising a storm, which 
would terminate in his death. Nevertheless, "he 
hath nothing in me no guilt whatever to accuse 
me of, no inward corruption or inherent depravity 
to take part in, or to follow his temptations, as the 
needle does the attraction of the magnet. 

The Apostle styles him—" the Prince of the 
power of the air."* Not because he has power to raise 
the wind, as some have supposed, for he could not 
cause the wind to blow down the house in which 
Job's children were feasting, until God gave him 
permission. But because he is the prince, or chief 
of those demons whose residence is in the air. He 
is called " spiritual wickedness in high places." 
P For," says the Apostle, we wrestle not again&t 
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against 
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this 
world, against spiritual zcickedness in high places ;" 
or, as the margin more literally reads, wicked spirits 
in heavenly places f 

The meaning of the Apostle plainly appears to 
be this : — We have not only to contend against our 
own fears and passions, and a whole host of perse- 
cutors, but we have to maintain a perpetual war with 



* Eph. ii. 2. 1 Eph. vi. 1% 



58 THE NAMES GIVEN TO SATAN. 

enemies more powerful " than flesh and blood] 
even with invisible and formidable principaliti 
and powers, who are the rulers and cause of that 
darkness and ignorance which is so predominant in 
the world. And such is the power and malignity 
of those enemies, that they even enter into our pub- 
lic and private places of devotion, in order, if pos- 
sible, to obstruct our worship, and draw our attention 
from God. Hence, the Apostle styles them, 
" wicked spirits in heavenly places" That this is 
the proper meaning of this passage, will be still 
more evident, when it is considered, that the Apos- 
tle points out these enemies, in order to prove to the 
Ephesians the necessity of putting on the whole 
armour of God, that they might be able to withstand 
in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.* 
May God grant that both the author and reader of 
this essay, may comply with the injunction of the 
Apostle, and put on the whole armour of God, 
that we may be able to stand firm in the Lord, and 
in the power of his might ; and, at last, when our 
warfare is accomplished, we may be translated to 
the realms of eternal bliss. 

* Eph. vi, 13. 



CHAP. IV. 



Demoniacal Possessions ; or. Reasons to prove their 
Reality according to the New Testament. 

It has been a subject of dispute for many centu- 
ries, whether the demoniacs, mentioned in the gospel, 
were really possessed with infernal spirits, or demons, 
or whether they were only persons afflicted with 
natural distempers. Those who contend for the 
latter opinion, suppose that the expressions — pos- 
sessed with the Devil — casting out Devils, are only 
an accomodation to vulgar opinion, and that the 
persons said to be possessed, were only mad or lu- 
natic, or persons subject to epilepsy, Thus they 
have explained away the account given in the gospel 
concerning these demoniacs. I have never had the 
opportunity of examining one complete treatise 
against the opinion of real possessions, except one 
written by Hugh Farmer, which was put into my 
hands by a kind friend. And 1 candidly confess, 
that it is a learned and ingenious production ; and 
the more I read it, the more I am convinced of the 
truth of the two following lines : — 

** I know the learned can, with ease, 

" Twist words and meanings as they please." 



DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS \ OR, 



Neither have I had the pleasure to read on 
single work in favour of real possessions ; conse- 
quently, my mind is not biassed by the specious rea- 
soning of any individual. I have met with various 
remarks on the subject in the course of my reading, 
and probably some of them may appear in this 
chapter. The plain, unadulterated language of the 
Scripture, or the account which is given of poses- 
sions in the gospel, are more convincing to me, 
that the demoniacs were really possessed with evil 
supernatural demons, than all the learning and so- 
phistry which have been summoned into action, in 
order to disprove and evade the simple and unvar- 
nished narration given of possessions in the evan- 
gelic history. I am firmly persuaded, that the 
representation of the demoniacs in the gospel his- 
tory, together with their condition, cannot be fairly 
accounted for, but upon the principle of real pos- 
sessions. And I would ask the opposers of this 
scriptural doctrine, what language would they use, 
in order to express real possessions ? Can any doc^ 
trine be better attested ? Are not the expressions 
of the Evangelist as plain and forcible as language 
will admit ? Why, then, should any man endea- 
vour to expunge from the Scriptures a doctrine so 
clearly and positively contained in them ? The 
modes of reasoning made use of by these men to 
evade the truth of the gospel history, are not only 
dangerous in the extreme, but superlatively absurd ; 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 61 



they tend to destroy the certainty of all language, 
and the unlearned, or uninformed reader, is at once 
carried into boundless regions of mere allegory and 
figure, and, like a pilot without anchor and without 
compass, founders upon a dismal ocean of uncer- 
tainty and confusion. And not only so, but upon 
the same principle, we may easily explain away 
every other doctrine contained in the Bible; and 
thus, in an alembic of mental chemistry, transmute 
all these heart-cheering doctrines of Christianity 
into mere shadows, and thereby deprive the humble, 
sin -sick soul, of all his hope, leaving faim to perish 
in despair. 

I shall, in the first place, point out a few of those 
reasons which induce me to believe in real posses- 
sions. 

First. Casting out Devils is frequently spoken of 
as a thing different from the healing of diseases* 
Hence, it is said of Jesus, that "his fame went 
throughout all Syria, and they brought unto him 
all such people that were taken with divers diseases 
and torments, and those that were possessed with 
Devils, and those which were lunatic, and those 
that had the palsy, and he healed them."* " When 
the even was come, they brought unto him many 
that were possessed with Devils: anil he cast out 
the spirits with his word, and healed all that zeere 
Be* "t And it appears still more evident, from 
* Matt. iv. 24. f Matt. viii. 16. 

i F 



DEMONIACAL TOSSESSIOKS ; OR, 



ihe commission which Christ gave to his apostles, 
that the demoniacs were literally possessed with 
infernal and invisible demons For, says he — "Ileal 
the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, 
cast out Devils, freely ye have received, freely 
give."* Now, how absurd is it to suppose, 
that Jesus Christ would say to his apostles, cast 
out Devils, if there were no such beings in exist- 
ence, or such a thing as real possessions. If the 
opinions of our opponents be correct, we must look 
upon Jesus Christ as an ignorant novice, or 
else a downright impostor. " But let God be true, 
and every man a liar," who attempts to pervert the 
plain declarations of his word. "And at even, 
when the sun did set, they brought unto him all 
that were diseased, and them that were possessed 
with D evils " Then he called his twelve dis- j 
ciples together, and gave them power and authority 
over all Devils, and to cure diseases." J From 
hence it is evident, that our Lord and his Apostles 
considered casting out Devils as distinct and sepa- 
rate from the healing of diseases ; and that casting 
out demons was one prominent feature in the Apos- 
tles' mission, when they went forth to unfurl the 
banners of the cross, and to proclaim to a ruined 
world the redemption of Christ. 

Secondly. The sacred writers express themselves 

* Matt. x. 8. f Mark i. 32. jj Luke ix. 1. 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 03 

in such terms, as seem undeniably to imply their own 
persuasion of the fact ; and that the distemper of 
these deplorable sufferers, was owing to the influ- 
ence of some personal agents wholly distinct from 
themselves, and these no other than unclean, infer- 
nal spirits. For, says the historian — " The Devils 
besought him, saying, if thou cast us out, suffer u* 
to go away into the herd of swine."* "As they 
went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man 
possessed with a Devil. And when the Devil was 
cast out, the dumb spake; and the multitudes 
marvelled, saying, it was uever so seen in Israel. 
But the Pharisees said, he casteth out Devils 
through the Prince of the Devils."f " And the 
spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of 
him : and he was as one dead, insomuch that many 
said, he is dead. "J Thus it is evident, that the; 
Evangelists believed in real possessions : otherwise, 
they. must be considered as unfaithful historians, to 
declare as facts the expelling of demons when no 
such thing ever took place. But if we suppose 
them constantly under infallible guidance, the opin- 
ion of those who deny real possessions leads to the 
grossest absurdity and contradiction. For it sup- 
poses them to be under infallible guidance, and not 
under infallible guidance, at the same time, 
j Thirdly. Our Saviour himself in the actual cure 



* Matt; viii. 31. f Matt. ix. 32, 33, 34. % Mark Ax. 26, 



61 • DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS ; OR, 

of these demoniacs, and in his treatment of them, 
plainly appears to have looked upon them as not 
only nominally, but really such. The Devils be- 
sought him, saying" — " If thou cast us out, suffer 
us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said 
unto them, Go." He speaks not to the man, but to 
some oilier conscious being possessing and acting 
upon him. u And Jesus rebuked him, (that is, the 
unclean spirit,) saying, hold thy peace, and come 
out of him." " And he healed many that were sick 
of divers diseases, and cast out many Devils, and 
suffered not the Devils to speak, because they knew 
him," * And unclean spirits, when they saw hira, 
fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art 
the Son of God. And he straitly charged them 
that they should not make him known."* "And 
Devils also came out of many, crying out, and say- 
ing, thou art Christ the Son of God. And he re- 
buked them, and suffered them not to speak : for 
they knew that he was Christ. f 

Fourthly. The denial of real possessions makes 
the gospel history to be a complication of absurdi- 
ties, and renders it absolutely impossible to make 
any sense of many of its parts. For instance, the 
account which is given by St. Luke concerning the 
ejection of a demon. Now, read the word disease, 
instead of the word Deri/, and the absurdity of such 



* Mark iii. 1], 12. f Luke iv. 41. 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 65 



an opinion appears in its true light ; and the folly 
of those who are so absurd as to depart from the 
line of divine truth, is at once exhibited to public 
contempt. ''And in the synagogue there was a 
man which had a spirit of an unclean disease, and 
the unclean disease cried out with a loud voice, Let 
us alone, what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus 
of Nazareth ? Art thou come to destroy us ? I, the 
unclean disease, know thee who thou art, the Holy 
One of (Jod. And Jesus rebuked the unclean dis- 
ease, saying, Hold thy peace, and corae out of him. 
And when the unclean disease had thrown him 
down in the midst, he (the unclean disease) came 
out of him, and hurt him not. And they were all 
amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What 
a word is this ; for with authority and power he 
commandeth the unclean diseases, and they come 
put.-'* 

u It is well known," says Dr. Doddridge, < ; that 
a late learned and ingenious writer has revived the 
notion, long since maintained by Mr. Joseph Mede 
and Dr. Bekker, that these supposed demoniacs 
were only lunatics, or epileptics : but, on the most 
impartial perusal of what has passed between him 
and his learned antagonists, 1 am fully convinced 
that there is no sufficient reason for departing from 
the received interpretation ; and I should think this 
story alone a convincing proof on the side of \L 
* Luke iv. 33—3(3. 



00 



DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS ; OR, 



It is most incredible that an evangelist should have 
been left to inscribe this man's disorder to the spirit 
of an unclean demon, if it were only lunacy, or the 
falling sickness; or, that a physician of common 
sense should speak of it as a memorable circum- 
stance, that such a distemper did not hurt a man 
by leaving him." — Again, our Lord represents an 
evil spirit or demon, after being cast out, as walk- 
ing through desert places seeking rest and finding 
none. But supply the word disease instead of spirit, 
and the language of Jesus Christ becomes not only 
altogether unintelligible, but absolutely absurd. 
For instance, when the unclean spirit, or rather, 
according to the hypothesis of our opponents, the 
unclean disease, is gone out of a man, he (he unclean 
disease.) walketh through dry places seeking rest, 
and findeth none. Then the unclean disease saith, 
I will return into my house from whence I came 
out ; and when the unclean disease is come, he find- 
eth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth 
the unclean disease and taketh with himself sevens- 
other diseases more wicked than himself; and they, 
i. e. eight diseases, enter in and dwell there. f 

* If the word seven be understood as denoting per- 
fection, the words seven other spirits, mean a great 
number; therefore, according to the principles of those 
who deny the reality of possessions, this unclean dis- 
ease took a great number of diseases more wicked than 
himself. 

t See Matt, xii. 43—45 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 67 



Thus it is evident, that if the opinions of these men 
who deny real possessions be correct, Jesus Christ? 
instead of speaking as never man spake, hath used 
language which amounts to nothing more than a 
mass of the most incoherent and ridiculous jargon. 
But if we understand the words of Christ as a faith- 
ful representation of what had previously taken 
place, his language on this occasion is intelligible 
and consistent with the general tenor of the gospel 
history. Thus it is evident that our adorable Re- 
deemer considered passions as real ; otherwise, 
he would never have adopted the mode of expres- 
sion made use of on this occasion. 

II. A reply to the objections against this literal 
interpretation of these and similar expressions, 

Objection 1st — Mr. Heineken says, "In order 
as much as possible to narrow the ground of our 
present inquiry, it will be proper to observe, that in 
almost all these passages of Scripture, where men 
are described as possessed, our translators have in- 
judiciously employed the term Devil, instead of 
Demon, which is the true meaning of the original 
word ; and this circumstance has given rise to a 
very mistaken notion/' 

This is only an assertion without the least shadow 
of proof brought to support it ; and I would have 
Mr. H. to observe, that an assertion proves nothing 
without it be substantiated either by positive facts, 
or upon the principles of sound reason and argu- 



68 DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS | OR 

merit : therefore, it would be just to pass it over in 
silence. But as a>sertions and misrepresentations 
are generally considered by " rational Christians" 
as strong weapons to attack their assailants with, I 
shall therefore endeavour to prove to be false, the 
assertion made in the above quotation. Mr. IJeine- 
ken ought to have proved that the translation of 
the term Devi/ instead of Demon, was the cause of 
the opinion that there are in existence supernatural 
evil spirits, or Demons, or that it led to the notion 
that theKlemoniacs were literally possessed. The 
demoniacs are frequently said to be possessed with 
unclean spirits; and it is also said in the history of 
these deplorable sufferers, that they brought unto 
Jesus Christ "many that were possessed witfj 
Devils, and he cast out the spirits with his word." 
Here, observe, the term spirit, is used as synony- 
mous with Devil. But suppose the word Devil had 
never been employed by our translators, would the 
opinion of real possessions never have had an ex- 
istence ? I defy Mr. Heineken, or any other of 
his Unitarian brethren to prove, that one single 
individual believed in the existence of the Devil, 
or in the reality of possessions, merely because 
our translators have used the term Devil, instead 
of Demon. Neither does the term Devil injure 
the sense of the sacred texts, nor does it convey 
a meaning which the writers did not intend. Sub- 
stitute the word Demon instead of Devil, and the 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 



09 



sense remains exactly the same : for instance, 
" They brought unto him many that were possessed 
with Demons" Christ said to his Apostles — "cast 
out Demons" Thus, it is evident, that if the word 
Devil had never been used, the doctrine of posses- 
sions would have been the same. Mr. Heineken 
further adds — " that it was a current opinion among 
the Jews, who seem to have adopted it from the 
Egyptians and other nations, that there was an 
actual transmigration of the soul, and that the spirits 
of the dead, both good and bad, had power to enter 
the bosoms of the living, and either to impart their 
good qualities, or to inflict torments both of body 
and of mind, by the influence of their bad dispo- 
sitions." And he again adds, that u having very 
indistinct ideas of a future state, they imagined 
disembodied spirits were flitting about in the re- 
gions of space; and that they were all under the 
direction of a governing spirit, whom they termed 
Belzeebub, the prince of the Demons" Although 
the Egyptians, together with Pythagoras and his fol- 
lowers, believed and taught the doctrine of the trans- 
migration of the soul ; and though a great part of 
the heathens worshipped confessedly the ghosts of 
departed heroes, conquerors, potentates, and the in- 
ventors of the fine arts, whom popular superstition, 
after disguising their history with fables and absurd- 
ities, blindly deified. Yet it was the opinion both 
of Jews and Heathens, that the air Was full of spirits, 



70 



DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS j OR, 



a superior order of beings between men and God. 
These, (he Greeks termed Demons, (knowing ores) 
and the Romans, Genii. Ilesiod roundly affirms, 
that— 

* Millions of spiritual creatures walk 

Tbe earth unseen." 

Hence, it is probable, says an able writer on this 
subject, arose the numerous tales about the exploits 
of their demi-gods. Hence, their Satyrs, Fauns, 
Nymphs of every kind, wherewith they supposed 
both the sea and the land to be filled. Some of these 
Demons or Genii, the Heathens supposed to be 
kind and benevolent, delighting in doing good ; 
others, to be malicious and cruel, delighting in doing 
evil. Of the former, seems to have been the cele- 
brated demon of Socrates, concerning which so 
many and various conjectures have been made ia 
succeeding ages. " This gives me notice," said he, 
« every morning, of any evil which will befall me 
that day." — "My demon," said he, "did not give 
me notice this morning of any evil that was to be- 
fall me to-day ; therefore I cannot regard as any 
evil, my being condemned to die." Undoubtedly, 
says Mr. Wesley, it was some spiritual being : pro- 
bably one of the ministering spirits * " The Jews, 
in the Pi)k Axolh" (says a learned author.) " teach, 
that from the earth to the firmament all things were 



* Sermon on Hebrews i. 14. 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR IIKAL1T Y. 71 



full of these companies and rulers ; and that there 
was a prince over them, who was called the governor 
of tliis zcorld, that is, the darkness of it." This 
agrees with the opinion of the ancient Fathers, con- 
cerning whom St. Jerome says, " this is the opinion 
of the Doctors — that the air which divides between 
the earth and heaven, is full of contrary powers." 
It would probably be difficult to discover with cer- 
tainty, from what is said in the (Jospels concerning 
possessions, whether the demons were conceived toLe 
the gliosis of wicked men deceased, or lapsed angels. 
It is plain they were conceived to be malignant spirit?. 
They are exhibited as the causes of the woA direful 
calamities to the unhappy persons whom they pos- 
sessed — dumbness, deafness, madness, palsy, epi- 
lepsy, and the like. The descriptive titles given them 
always denote that they were wicked supernatural 
spirits. They are frequently called andean spirits, 
either, because of their personal dispositions, or, be- 
cause of the effects which they produced. They 
are represented as conscious that they are doomed 
to misery and torments, though their punishment be 
delayed for a while. When our Saviour was in the 
country of the Gergesenes, there met him two men 
possessed with Devils, or Demons, coming out of the 
tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no man might pass 
by that way. I nto these two men a legion of Devils 
had entered ; and, behold, they cried out, saying, 
What have we- to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of 



72 DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS; OR, 



(Jod ? — art thou come hither to torment us before 
the time'* We see here, that those Demons expecN 
ed more grievous torment than they had ever yet 
felt ; that they mentioned the time appointed for the 
completion of their torment; and, as the season 
fixed on for this is the great day, they therefore ex- 
postulated with him about the time of it— art thou 
come to torment us before the time ? And they be- 
sought him that he would not command them to go 
out into the deep, into the abyss; by which expo- 
sitors understand the place of torment.* The state 
of endless misery, to which Christ will sentence all 
wicked persons at his second coming, is called, 
" everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his 
angels ;"f which seems to imply, that the arch* 
apostate and his angels are not in this punishment ; 
that it is prepared for them, and they are reserved 
unto it. and that at the appointed time, they shall 
be cast into it. We read — " And the Devil that 
deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and 
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet 
are, and shall be tormented day and night, for ever 
and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and 
him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and 
the heavens fled away, and there was found no 
place for them. And I saw the dead, small and 
great, stand before God : and the books wereopea- 



* Matt. vrii. 29. and Luke viii. 31. f Matt. xxv. 41. 



REASONS TO I»ROVE THEIR REALITY. 73 



ed : and another book was opened, which is the 
book of life : and the dead were judged out of those 
things which were written in the books, according 
to their works."* Here we see, that when the dead, 
small and great, shall stand before God, and be 
judged by him, the Devil, together with the beast 
and the false prophet, shall be cast into the lake of 
fire and brimstone. And again — " Thou believest 
that there is one God ; thou doest well : the Devils 
also believe and tremble" \ From hence it appears, 
that when the Apostle is representing the Devils as 
believing in the existence of God, he at the same time 
represents them as trembling at the fearful expecta- 
tion of some future misery which would be inflicted 
upon them. These passages evidently intimate, 
that their complete torment is yet to come, and that 
they are looking forward with the most dismal fore- 
bodings for their final destiny, the thought of 
which makes them tremble. 

That the Jews were afterwards led into idolatry 
and superstition by other nations, is evident from 
their own history. But that they believed in the doc- 
trine of the transmigration of the soul, remains to be 
proved. We find no mention in the Scripture of such 
a doctrine ever being held by them. Besides, the 
doctrine of transmigration was contrary to the gene- 
ral tenor of their own Scriptures. The Apostle St. 
Paul, in one of his letters to Timothy, said, that 
f IJev. xx. 10—12. | James ii. xix. 

G 



71 



DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS ; OR, 



from a child he had known those Scriptures, and 
that they were able to make him wise unto salva- 
tion, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. From 
hence it follows, that the Jews with these Scrip- 
tures in their hands, could not be so ignorant of a 
future state, as Mr. Heineken would have us believe. 
Besides, it is well known that the Jews had the 
strongest attachment to the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures, and continue to have even to this day. That 
the Jewish Rabbies incorporated into their Targums 
many absurdities, 1 do not deny ; but that the doc- 
trine of the transmigration of the soul was either 
taught or believed by them, does not appear to me 
to be probable ; for the Jews thought their title to 
heaven absolutely certain, because they were the 
offspring of faithful Abraham ; therefore, John the 
Baptist said unto them, " Think not to say within 
yourselves, we have Abraham to our father ; for I 
say unto you, that God is able of these stones to 
raise up children unto Abraham."* 

Jesus Christ himself laid the axe at the very root 
of such a doctrine as the transmigration of the soul, 
in his narrative of the rich man and Lazarus. He 
informs us, " that Lazarus died, and was carried by 
the angels into Abraham's bosom : the rich man also 
died, and was buried ; and in hell he lift up his eyes* 
being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, 
and Lazarus in his bosom. And lie cried and said, 
* Matt. iii. & 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 75 



Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Laz- 
arus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water 
and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this 
flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that 
thou in thy life- time receivedst thy good things, 
and likewise Lazarus evil things ; but now lie is 
comforted, and thou art tormented. And besides 
all this, between us and you there is a great gulf 
fixed ; so that they which would pass from hence to 
you, cannot, neither can they pass to us that would 
come from thence."* Now, had the doctrine of 
transmigration been a prevailing opinion of the 
Jews, they would have said to Jesus Christ, that 
what he had been relating concerning these two men 
was not true ; for that their spirits " were flitting 
about in the regions of space," and sometimes enter- 
ing the bosoms of mankind. Even the thief upon 
the cross used language quite opposite to such a be- 
lief as this ; for says he — "Lord remember me when 
thou comest into thy kingdom."f Now, had he be- 
lieved in transmigration, he would have said, Lord, 
let my spirit and thine travel together in the bound- 
less regions of eternal space ; or, let our souls enter 
the bosoms of men and women together : thus, it is 
evident, that the belief in the doctrine of transmi- 
gration was not generally believed among the Jews. J 
* Luke xvt f Luke xxiii. 42. 

J 1 do not mean that the doctrine of transmigration 
was held by none of the Jews, for many I believe were 
led into this opinion ; what I contend for \4, that it was 
not a general, or prevailing opinion. 



76 



DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS ; OR, 



In the quotation already made from Mr. Heineken's 
lecture, he tells us, that departed spirits were sup- 
posed to be under the direction of a governing spirit, 
whom they termed Beelzebub, the prince of the De- 
mons, or departed spirits. In another part of his 
lecture, he says — " Beelzebub has also been consi- 
dered as descriptive of this being (that is, of Satan) 
but it was the name of one of tlie imaginary Pagan 
Deities, and implied no particular qualities, either 
good or bad " Now, is it not as reasonable to sup- 
pose, that the Jews called Satan, Beelzebub, for a 
certain reason, probably best known to themselves; 
as that the Heathens should designate the supposed 
prince, or chief of departed spirits, by that name. 
For the sake of argument, we will grant Mr. Heine- 
ken what he contends for, viz, that Beelzebub was 
only the name of a large image, whom the Ekronites 
worshipped as a God. One of those passages in 
which the term Beelzebub occur, is in St. Mark's 
Gospel, third chapter and twenty-second verse: 
"And the scribes which came down from Jerusa- 
lem, said ; He hath Beelzebub, and by the Prince 
of the devils casteth he out devils." Now, according 
to the opinion of Mr. Heineken, the meaning of 
this passage appears to be this : — he hath the god of 
Ekron, and by the prince of the gods of Ekron, he 
casteth out gods of Ekron ; or, he hath an heathen 
deity, and by the prince of heathen deities, he cast- 
eth eut heathen deities. An absurdity too glaring 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 77 

to be admitted by any man, except one who is blind- 
ed by prejudice, or determined to believe any thing, 
however monstrous, rather than give up his pre- 
conceived opinions : for it is making an image, which 
consists of nothing but inanimate matter, to be the 
"cause and the effect, the agent and the patient, 
the moving principle and the thing moved : but 
I refrain from drawing the absurd, the unphilosophic 
conclusion, and humbly think, that the doctrine of 
Devils is as clearly depicted, as any other truth in 
the whole Bible ; and as all that has been advanced 
against it is mere hypothesis, unsupported by argu- 
ment, and unauthorized by Scripture, I hope, like 
the bursting bubble on the passing stream, it will 
soon evaporate into empty air." Mr. Heineken ought 
to have told us how this god came from Ekron to 
the place where Christ then was. We have yet to 
learn whether he travelled, or he was born upon 
angels' wings !— And likewise, he ought to have 
told us how it was possible for Christ to become 
possessed with this image. Baalzebub, properly 
signifies the lord of Jiies , an idol or deity of the 
Ekronites. How this idol came to obtain this name, 
I know not. Some commentators suppose, that 
this god was called Baal-8hamaim, or the lord of 
heaven ; but that the Jews by way of contempt, 
gave him the name of Baalzebub ; but others, 
with greater reason, suppose that he was styled 

the god of flies by his votaries, because he de- 

g 2 



78 



DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS J OR, 



fended people frora the flies, a troublesome and 
destructive insect in some hot countries ; in like 
manner, as the Eleans worshipped Hercules under 
the appellation of the fly-chaser. And Pliny is of 
opinion, that the name of Achor, the god invoked 
at C yrene against flies, came from Accaron, or Ekron 
the city where Baalzebub was worshipped, an 
where he had a famous temple. Ahaziah, king o 
Israel, having fallen from the terrace of his house 
into a lower room, and being dangerously hurt, sent 
to consult this deity, to know if he should be cure 
of his wounds * 

The Ekronites, says Dr. Macknight— " bein & 
near neighbours to the Jews, the great veneration 
which they had for this idol, made him the object 
both of the horror and detestation of the devou 
worshippers of the true God. Accordingly, to 
express in what detestation they held him, they 
appropriated his name to the most hateful being in 
the universe, calling the Devil, or the prince of the 
evil angels, Beelzebub." Dr. Doddridge says, 
" the title in the Greek, is Beelzebub, which sig- 
nifies, The lord of a dunghill." — And a learned and 
ancient author in his notes on the first chapter of 
the second of Kings, says, that this idol or deity was 
known by the name of the filthy god, because of the 
stench and filth with which those heathen temples 
were infected, Hence, this name was given to the 
* 2 Kings i. 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALI-TY. 79 



apostate fiend, not only to denote that he was the 
most filthy and corrupt of fallen demons, but to de- 
Dote the filthiness and corruptness of those princi- 
ples which he is endeavouring to instil into the 
bosoms of mankind. It is certain, from the answer 
which our Lord gave to the Pharisees, when they 
said—" This fellow doth not cast out Devils, but 
by Beelzebub, the prince of the Devils that they 
meant to stigmatize Jesus Christ with having a con- 
federacy with this great apostate ; hence, says he, 
44 How can Satan cast out Satan?" "And if a 
kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom 
cannot stand "f As much as if he had said, il Satan 
rise up to the subversion of his own cause and in- 
terest, he is divided, and it follows as a necessary 
consequence, that his kingdom cannot stand, but is 
sure to come to a speedy desolation. 

Objection 2d. Mr. lleineken says, that " Jesus 
Christ and his apostles, it should be remembered, 
were born in Judea, and educated as Jews, and 
therefore very naturally reasoned with their country- 
men in many cases on their own principles, and 
where no very important points of Christian doctrine 
were immediately involved, employed the commoa 
and popular language, in order to convey their sen- 
timents to their hearers." 

This might account for general expressions, such 
as Demoniacs, or being possessed of the Devil y 
* Matt. xii. 24 t Mark iii. 23, 24. 



80 DEMONTACU. POSSESSIONS; OR 

but not for the manner in which the Evangelists 
have related the dispossession of the Demons, who 
would not have expatiated and enlarged upon the 
notion, if they had not been satisfied that it had its 
foundation in truth. " The more enlightened can- 
not always avoid the use of metaphorical modes of 
expression ; which, though founded upon error, yet * 
have been so established in language by the influ- 
ence of custom, that they cannot be suddenly dis- 
missed. But in descriptions of characters, in the j 
narration of facts, and in the laying down of sys- 
tems of doctrines, we require different rules to be i 
observed. Should any person, in compliance with 
popular opinions, talk in serious language of the 
existence, dispositions, declarations, and actions, of 
a race of beings whom he knew to have no existence, . 
we surely could not praise him for his ingenuity ; 
we must suppose him to be either exulting in irony 
over the weak credulity of those around him, or 
taking advantage of their weakness, with the dishon- 
esty and selfish views of an impostor. And if he 
himself should pretend to any connection with this 
imaginary system of beings, and should claim in 
consequence of his connection with them, particular 
honours from his contemporaries, whatever might be 
the dignity of his character in all other respects, 
nobody could hesitate to brand him as an impostor. 
In this light we must regard the conduct of our 
Saviour and his apostles, if the idea of demoniacal 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. Si 

possessions were to be considered as merely a vulgar 
error. They talked and acted as if they believed 
that evil spirits had actually entered into those who 
were brought to them as possessed with Devils, and 
as if those spirits had actually been expelled by 
their authority out of the unhappy persons whom 
they Had possessed. They demanded too, that their 
authority and declarations should be believed, in 
consequence of their performing such mighty works, 
and thus triumphing over the powers of hell * Be- 
sides, if we should suppose that our Lord in curing 
these diseases, and his disciples in writing the his- 
tory of his cures, used the vulgar language, or con- 
ceded to popular superstition ; yet this will not 
account for the possessed persons speaking in the, 
manner related of them by the Evangelists. The 
demoniacs, it is probable, might, while under the in- 
fluence of outrageous insanity, fancy themselves ta 
be possessed : yea, they might even personate the 
demons; but is it possible they should even feign a 
dread of being tormented " before the time they 
might have expostulated with Jesus Christ, asking 
bim why he came to disturb or torment them ; but 
it is not probable, that mere maniacs should even 
look forward to a certain period when their destiny 
would be completed, with the most dismal torments^ 
and then reason with Christ about the unreasona- 
bleness of coming to torment them before that time. 
* See Martiudale's Dictionary, Article Demoniac. 



82 



DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS; OR, 



But should it be said, that the demoniacs might 
express a dread of being relieved from the possession, 
and beg of Christ not to restore them to their natur- 
al state; this is absolutely improbable; but be 
this as it may, what shall we think of the man 
mentioned in Luke iv. 83, who had a spirit of an 
unclean Devil. This person was neither lunatic 
nor mad ; for the distemper under which he labour- 
ed was an epilepsy, as is plain from verse 35, where 
we are told that the spirit convulsed him.- 

This, Mr. Ileineken will not deny; but he will 
deny that the distemper arose from any agency of 
evil spirits. Now, I would ask, if there was nothing 
in the case but an epilepsy, arising from natural 
causes, how came the demoniac to cry out, sayings 
" Let us alone, what have zee to do zcith thee, Jesus 
of Nazareth ? Art thou come to destroy us ?" Can 
it be imagined that this person, while in his right 
mind, would be unwilling to be cured of his disease, 
or, that he should express a dread at the very 
thought of being relieved from sickness to health, 
from the most excruciating torture, to perfect ease 
and vigour ? To suppose this, is to suppose a self- 
evident absurdity; and a man that can thus think 
gives evident proof that he is himself possessed, or 
is a maniac. Suppose that the man was strongly 
tinctured with the opinions of his country, and 



* See Doddridge's Family Expositor. 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY 



83 



really imagined himself possessed with the Devil, 
is it reasonable to think, that, being in his right 
senses, he would dread the ejection of the Devil, 
and look upon it as his own destruction ? From 
hence it follows, as a necessary consequence, that 
this man was literally possessed with an evil, super- 
natural spirit, or demon. Mr. Meineken says — 
V Where no very important point, of Christian doc- 
trine was immediately involved, they employed the 
common and popular language/' From hence it 
follows, that Mr. II. believes > that the doctrine of 
possessions is an unimportant point of Christian doc- 
trine, and the belief in real possession an harmless 
error. Now, how does this agree with the division 
of his Lecture, where he says — " 1 shall proceed in 
the third place to shew, that the supposed interfer- 
ence of an evil being would be hostile to the Divine 
perfections, and utterly subversive of the Divine 
government." And in another place he says— t 
"Nor is the belief in the existence of an evil spirit 
less hostile to the sublime attribute of Divine wis- 
dom." Thus it is evident, that he is at war with 
himself; and if the belief in the interference of evil 
spirits be hostile to the Divine perfections, and 
utterly subversive of the Divine government, the 
doctrine of possession is a most important point of 
Christian doctrine. How does this agree with the 
characters of Christ and his apostles, that they 
should not only concede the people in an opinion 



84 DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS ; OR, 

that is hostile to the Divine perfections, and utterly 
subversive of the Divine government, but even 
countenance it themselves. IJere, observe, the 
point of Mr. H's spear is turned against himself, 
and he falls by his own weapon. Surely, Jesus i 
Christ ought to have teid the people that there was I 
no such a thing as real possession ; yea, he should 
expressly have said, that there were no such beings 
in existence as evil spirits, if the belief in real 
possession, or in the existence of evil spirits, was 
subversive of the Divine government. And again, 
in the latter part of the objection he says, that 
Christ and his apostles adopted " the common and 
popular language, in order to convey their sentiments 
to their hearers." That the language of a country 
must contain many allusions to the popular opinions, 
1 do not deny. Yet it does not follow as a neces- 
sary consequence, that Jesus Christ, consistently 
with goodness, could use phrases which alluded to 
such popular opinions as were false, and especially 
if they had a pernicious tendency; for instance, toll 
use Mr. Heineken's own words, if they led to an I) 
opinion which is " hostile to the Divine perfections, 
and subversive of the Divine government." Besides, I 
there was no necessity for Jesus to adopt the vulgar fci 
language of the people. For it is agreed on al ie 
hands, that the Jewish language afforded abundance 
i>f expressions, whereby the truth of the fact inigh Ij 
have been clearly expressed, if there had been n< i 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALT1Y. 85 

real possession. They had proper names for every 
distemper incident to the human system. Epilepsy, 
lunacy, and madness, are diseases which have more 
particularly obtained the name of demoniacism ; 
yet, these distempers are as often designated by 
their proper names as by the figurative name of de- 
moniacism. Why is not this language made use of 
in every cure, if it had been intended by way of 
accommodation to vulgar notions ! From hence it 
follows, that the Jewish language was such, that 
our Lord could have expressed himself in terms 
perfectly free from error; therefore, it is inconsis- 
tent with the perfection of his character, to suppose 
that he would use this mode of expression, when 
he knew that the vulgar would be confirmed by it 
in their delusions, Whatever reasons may be shewn 
why our Lord adopted the common phraseology of 
the people, cannot be urged with regard to the 
Evangelists, who wrote the history of our Lord's 
miraculous cures, when they knew that their his- 
tories were to last throughout succeeding generations. 
Now, if they understood the real nature of posses- 
sions, they ought to have assigned a reason why 
they adopted modes of expression which could not 
fail to lead their readers into a most hurtful and 
delusive error. Mr. H. attempts to solve this dif- 
ficulty, by saying, "That Jesus Christ and his 
Apostles were born in Judca, and educated as Jews, 
and therefore very naturally reasoned with their 

H 



DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS \ OR, 



countrymen on their own principles." I hope that 
Mr. II. will not say that the Spirit of God was 
born in Judea, or subject to Jewish prejudice; 
therefore this error must be reconciled with the no- 
tion of their inspiration. For surely it is a matter 
of the greatest importance, and worthy of the in- 
terference of the Divine Spirit, if the belief in the 
existence of evil spirits is " subversive of the Divine 
government." 

If Christ promised to his disciples, that when 
they were brought before kings and governors for 
his sake, it should be given thera in that same hour 
that the Spirit of their Father would speak in them,* 
it is fully as credible, that they would be assisted in 
the same manner when they wrote the history of 
our Lord's miracles and cures, especially as the re- 
cord was to last through all ages, and to be a rule 
of faith to all the nations of the earth. And again, 
Jesus said to his disciples, that — "When the 
Spirit of truth is come, he shall guide you into all 
truth." From hence it follows, that the doctrine 
of real possession is true, otherwise the Spirit of 
God has not only suffered them to remain in an er- 
ror, but to write a positive falsehood ; and in con- 
sequence of which, others have been led into the 
same erroneous notion. Besides, to suppose that 
the Evangelists were left to follow the dictates of 



* Matt, x, 19, 20; Luke xii. 11, 12. 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 



sr 



Jewish prejudice, while they composed their his- 
tories, is a reflection upon the Scriptures, which at 
once annihilates their authority. u Again," says 
Mr. Heineken, " to have engaged in controversy on 
every doubtful subject of enquiry, would have been 
foreign, and even hostile, to the main purposes of 
their office, have involved them in perpetual litiga- 
tions, and have weakened the influence of their 
more important labours." 

But is this a sufficient vindication of him who 
came to bear witness of the truth ? Is he not 
emphatically styled " the light of thezvorld?' there- 
fore to have acted consistently with his character, 
he ought to have said, as he did on other occasions, 
I Ye do greatly err" there is no such thing as being 
possessed with the Devil, it is only a natural dis- 
order of an extraordinary kind. Besides, how does 
this agree with another zealous advocate for Unita- 
rianism, who boldly asserts — " That Jesus and his 
Apostles pursued one direct course, in opposition to 
long-established opinions, and regardless and fear- 
less of consequences, leaving them to God." And 
another says it is the opinion of the Unitarians, that 
Jesus Christ, " by the force of his doctrines and ex- 
ample, saves men from ignorance and superstition" 
Thus it is evident, that the Unitarians are at war 
with themselves ; and such is the absurdity and 
contradiction of the Unitarian's creed, that, in or- 
der to support any part of it, they are obliged to 



88 



DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS; OR, 



annihilate alljthe rest. Again, says Mr. Heineken, 
" they prudently left the notion of possessions as 
they found it." Now, if it was an act of prudence 
for Jesus Christ and his Apostles to leave the peo- 
ple in error and superstition, continually tormented 
with a fantastic dread of evil spirits, surely it is the 
greatest imprudence in Mr. H. not to follow this 
example, when, according to his own opinion, it is 
a prudent one. But this is such a notion or pru- 
dence as I have yet to learn. 

I read Mr. H.'s lecture with astonishment. Some- 
times he says, the supposed interference of evil 
spirits is subversive of the Divine government; at 
others, he calls such an opinion an almost blasphem- 
ous notion ; but here he supposes it an act of 
prudence in Christ and his Apostles, to leave 
the people in the possession of an error, which, 
according to his opinion, leads to the most serious 
consequences. Such are the inconsistencies of this 
all-searching, all-discerning, all-knowing philoso- 
pher ! Again, says he — Although for the espe- 
cial purpose of establishing their authority, Jesus 
Christ and his Apostles were endowed with a su- 
pernatural power over the diseases of the body and 
the mind ; yet, it by no means follows as a neces- 
sary consequence, that they were themselves ac- 
quainted with the real causes of the calamities they 
removed." This is a sweeping declaration, and 
not less contradictory than other assertions in this 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 89 1 

lecture. For, if Jesus Christ and his apostles did 
not know the real nature of possession, they could 
not adopt the popular language of the times by way 
of accommodation. Does not such language as 
this cast a reflection on our Lord and his Apostles ? 
Is it not evident from this supposition, that Mr. 
Ileineken fancies that he is in possession of more 
wisdom and knowledge than was the lot of our ador- 
able Redeemer, and the first heralds of salvation. He 
of whom it is so often said — " Whence had this man 
this wisdom ?" But Mr. Meineken, without a blush, 
can suppose, that that Divine personage, whom the 
Apostle styles " the brightness of his Father's glory, 
and the express image of his person," was such a 
simpleton as not to know a physical disease from a 
diabolical possession. " Thus situated, (says Mr* 
lleineken,) it would be very natural for them to use 
the common language of the times " This is one 
of Mr. H.'s wonderful discoveries : first, to suppose 
them unacquainted with the real nature of posses- 
sions, then it follows as a necessary consequence, 
that they must adopt the common language of the 
times in which they lived. This opinion is abso- 
lutely absurd, if we consider Jesus Christ to be God 
and man in one person ; but Mr. H. will deny this,, 
notwithstanding he acknowledges that Christ and 
his Apostles were endowed with supernatural power 
to cure disease, both of the body and of the mind. 

Now, is it not as reasonable to suppose, that by 
h 2 



90 



DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS j OR, 



this power, (which is no other than the Spirit of 
God,) they were not only able to cure, but even 
to know the real nature of these diseases. For 
it is not only inconsistent with reason and common 
sense, but derogatory to the wisdom and goodness 
of God, to suppose that he would suffer Jesus 
Christ and his disciples, to attribute these direful 
calamaties to the agency of beings which had no ex- 
istence. Again, says Mr. H. "Did any, whilst 
under the influence of outrageous insanity, utter 
incoherent speeches, and fancy themselves to be in- 
habited by a legion of demons ? they were treated 
as if they were possessed ; and so they would pro- 
bably have been in the present day ; for it would be 
folly to reason philosophically with a madman." 
It is certain, that the demoniacs were believed to be 
really possessed with evil spirits. Now, if Jesus 
Christ and his disciples were ignorant of the real 
nature of possessions, it was morally impossible for 
them to reason philosophically either with a mad- 
man, or with one in his right mind. Neither could 
they use these modes of expression relative to the 
demoniacs in a figurative sense. Can any man in 
his right mind believe, that any physical disease 
could give this certain knowledge of Christ, or that 
any disease, epilepsy, or any thing else, could thus 
talk, and say — "Thou art Christ, the Son of the 
living God." Instead of the demoniacs uttering 
" incoherent speeches" as Mr. H. intimates, they dis- 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 



91 



played a degree of knowledge which is not surpass- 
ed even by the Apostles themselves* " When 
Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, 
he asked his disciples, saying — Whom do men say 
that I the Son of man am ! And they said — Some 
say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias ; 
and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He 
saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am ? And 
Simon Peter answered and said— Thou art the Christ 
the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered 
and said unto him, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, 
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee^ 
but my Father which is in heaven."* Now if the 
people did not know the true character of Jesus 
when in their right minds, is it reasonable to believe 
that a mere madman, while under the influence of 
outrageous insanity, could ever point out the true 
character of our blessed Redeemer. Yea, if the 
Apostle Peter did not know the real character of 
Christ by the mere exercise of his own natural un- 
derstanding, is it not absurd to suppose, that a mere 
maniac could ever arrive at this knowledge ? One 
of the demoniacs styles him — " Thou Son of the 
Most High." Now, the title Most High is given 
to the Supreme Being by the writers of the Old 
Testament, in order to distinguish him from all 
Other gods. Thus it is evident, that the demo- 



* Matt, ml 13—17. 



92 



DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS j OR, 



uiacs acknowledged Christ in the divinity of his 
character, which Mr. H. so unreasonably denies. 

" With these observations," says Mr. H. " I 
shall pass over all these passages of Scripture, iiy 
which the afflicted are said to have been possessed 
by demons ; for this word ought, in aH cases, to have 
been employed by cur translators instead of the 
word Devi/; and it would then very plainly appear, 
that such passages have no actual bearing on the 
present question." With what propriety Mr. II. 
can say such passages have no actual bearing on the 
present question, 1 am at a loss to determine, unless 
these passages are an insuperable bar to his progress 
in denying the existence of a supernatural evil be- 
ing, whom we call the Devil, or Satan. The term 
demon, signifies a spirit, whether good or bad ; 
and though the heathens generally used it in a good 
sense, yet they sometimes used it in an evil one. 
They had evil demons as well as good. " But when 
no bad quality is ascribed to the demon or demons 
spoken of, and nothing affirmed that implies it, the 
acceptation of the term in Pagan writers, is gener- 
ally favourable." If there had been nothing more 
to urge in favour of real possessions than the mere 
name Devil, or demon, 1 should think the contrary 
opinion not so improbable. But when I find men- 
tion made of the number of demons in particular 
possessions, their actions particularly distinguished 
from those of the man possessed, I cannot but ad- 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 93 



mit that they were really possessed. And I ara 
firmly persuaded, that we must either admit of real 
possessions, or else give up the Divine authority of 
the gospel history. For the gospel expressly as- 
serts real possession, and our Lord and his apostles 
never once told the people that there was no such 
thing; but, on the contrary, countenanced the 
common and prevailing opinion. Therefore, I shall 
take it for granted, that the demoniacs were literally 
possessed, until Mr. H. brings forward some proof 
to the contrary. He has hitherto advanced nothing 
but dogmatical assertions, which are as contradic- 
tory as they are false. 

It is maintained by those who deny the common 
opinion, that " the Devil was only a name for epi- 
lepsy, lunacy, or madness" But I want clear proof 
of this ; and I assert, contrary to Mr. Mede, that 
the sentence — "He hath a Devil, and is mad,"* 
are not synonymous expressions, any more than he 
hath a fever, and is mad, are so. To be mad., is 
often the consequence of a violent fever, but this is 
no proof that they are synonymous terms, and mean 
one and the same thing. It is reasonable to sup- 
pose, that every one possessed of a demon grew 
lunatic or mad, and at intervals might have fits, 
and be more than ordinarily affected, which might 
be the reason why the demoniacs are said to be lu- 
natic, or mad ; but stiil this is no proof that being 
* John x. 20. 



91 



DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS ; OR, 



possessed, and lunacy, or madness, were synony- 
mous terms, or mean one and the same thing: 
They are quite different disorders, though the latter, 
perhaps, was generally, if not always, the conse- 
quence of the former. But it is farther ailedged, 
" that madness and lunacy may be accounted for by 
natural and secondary causes" It is very true; 
but this is no reason for believing that they may 
not sometimes be owing to preternatural ones ; thus, 
a fever may be cured by natural means, but it uo 
way follows that it may not have been cured by the 
efficacy of a miraculous power, exerted for that pur- 
pose. And as nothing is more easy to be imagined, 
than that our Saviour should be able to assign the 
instance of such a preternatural agency, may we 
not take his word for a plain matter of fact ? 

Mr. Farmer says, that " the miracle wrought 
upon the demoniacs, is often described in the same 
terras as that wrought upon the diseased, terms, 
that necessarily imply their having previously la- 
boured under a real distemper." St. Matthew says, 
equally concerning demoniacs, lunatics, and para- 
lytics, " He healed them." What then ? Does- 
the term healing always imply a bodily disorder, or 
such a disorder of mind as proceeds from natural 
causes ? This Mr. Farmer dare not assert, firm as 
his brow is for allegory and figure. We find it ap- 
plied to unwholesome zcaters, to sin, and to outicard 
temporal calamities ; therefore this argument proves 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 05 



nothing. And as the demoniacs laboured under 
various diseases, which were thought to have been 
inflicted by the agency of evil spirits, the Evange- 
lists, by simply saying that they were healed or cured? 
was a certain proof that the demons were dislodged. 
Besides, they menlion the dispossession of the de- 
mons in contradistinction to the healing of diseases ; 
hence, it is said of Christ, that "He cast out the 
spirits with his word, and healed all that were 
sick." Now, this language is nothing but unintel- 
ligible jargon, on the supposition that the demo- 
niacs were only labouring under natural diseases. 

Again, the account which is given of the Demo- 
niacs of Gadara, and the ridiculous and miserable 
subterfuges which have been resorted to by those 
who deny the common opinion, is a convincing proof 
to me in favour of real possession. It is said of one 
of those Demoniacs, that "no man could bind him, 
no not with chains."* But Mr. Farmer says, — 
"That the ancients perhaps, were less skilful than 
the moderns, in the methods of confining such un- 
happy persons." This is at best only an improba- 
ble supposition ; for who can suppose, (unless he 
has an hypothesis to support by it,) that the ancients 
were such idiots as not to be able to confine with 
chains a mere maniac. Besides, why should the 
Evangelist point out this circumstance with so much 



* Mark v. 3. 



06 DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS \ OR, 

emphasis, if the reason why he could not be bound 
was owing to the deficiency of wisdom in the people 
It is further said, that out of this deplorable suf- 
ferer, our Lord dislodged a Legion of Devils ; and 
that he permitted them to go into a herd of swine, 
which was feeding upon the mountain, in conse- 
quence of which, the whole herd (which was about 
two thousand) ran violently down a steep place and 
were choked in the sea. But Dr. Lardner and Mr. 
Mede, strenuously contend in opposition to reason 
and Scripture, that this herd of swine was driven 
into the sea by the joint assistance of two raging 
madmen. Is it not a pity that men of learning 
should ever suffer themselves to be led into such 
absurdities ; and is it not a strong proof in favour 
of real possessions, when those who deny the fact 
are obliged to resort to such miserable shifts. I 
hesitate not to say, that it was impossible, not for 
two, but for twenty such madmen, however fierce, 
to put so vast a number of swine as two thousand 
into motion in an instant, and to cause them all to 
rush with violence down a precipice into the sea ; 
for it is well known, that swine are the worst of tame 
animals to be driven. Besides, it does not appear 
from the history, that the men ever fell upon the 
swine, or made any attempt to drive them into the 
sea ; nay, the history positively refers their de- 
struction to a different cause ; for we are expressly 
told, that the Devils went into the herd of swine. 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 97 

"Now there is a great deal of difference bet wen the 
Devils going into a thing, and a man following after 
or driving it. Moreover, if this legion of demons, 
were nothing more than a raging madman or two, 
and if these demons entered into the swine, as we 
are assured they did, then these madmen entered 
into the swine. Now, it remains for them to ex- 
plain, how these madmen got out of themselves, 
and how they got into the swine. Such are the ab- 
surdities which men unavoidably run into, who 
wish to be wise above what is written. Neither is 
the supposition, that the demoniacs only laboured 
under a natural disease less absurd; for if there was 
nothing more than a bodily disease, we must view 
the subject of it as afflicted with a legion of diseases 
atone time, that is, about five thousand; that the 
diseases were possessed of the gift of speech; for it 
is said, they besought him that he would not com- 
mand them to go out into the deep. There is one 
thing more which ought not to be overlooked. 
When our Lord had commanded the unclean spirit, 
or rather the unclean disease, to come out of the man, 
the reply which was made was— " What have we to 
do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God Most High ? 
I beseech thee torment me not." If we consider 
this to be the language of the afflicted person with- 
out diabolical influence, we are totally unable to 
make any sense of the passage ; and if we view it 

as the language of a disease, it appears more absurd 

i 



98 DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS j OR, 

still. Mr. Farmer supposes, that it was the disease 
of the man that was transferred into the swine ; 
and he further supposes, that the answer which one 
of the demoniacs gave Christ, viz. my name is Le~ 
guw, was only the incoherent dogmas of a mere mad- 
man ! Hence, he fancies he evades the absurdity of 
supposing a legion of diseases to inhabit the bosom 
of a man at one time. For the sake of argument, 
we will grant Mr. Farmer what he contends for, 
%>iz. that this demoniac was only mad. Now one 
would almost be persuaded, that Mr. Farmer be- 
lieved that the disease was ivjiiiitely divisable, for 
at any rate, this disease must have been divided into 
two thousand parts, in order to affect the whole herd. 
Now, suppose it possible, that a disease thus di- 
vided, would cause two thousand swine to go raging 
mad. Is it possible for a man to believe, in his 
right mind, that the injection of the two thousandth 
part of a disease into each of them, would make 
them to go raging mad in an instant, and in a mo- 
ment cause them to rush with violence into the sea. 
If it was only the mere disorder of a man which 
caused them to go mad, how is it that they should 
run with one accord into the sea ? Why did not they 
run in all directions, and thus squander themselves 
all over the plain, tearing in pieces every thing 
that came in their way ? Mr. Farmer has only re- 
jected one absurdity to take up another. I shall 
conclude this chapter with a few remarks upon the 



REASONS TO PROVE THEIR REALITY. 



99 



permission given to the devils when cast out of the 
man to go into the herd of swine. 

1st. It was not derogatory to the honour of our 
Saviour's character, since it is one of the very usual 
methods of God's moral government, to awaken sin- 
ners to repentance by alarming events. 

2d. Nor was it unjust in Jesus, since it is evi- 
dent he acted not in his own personal character as 
a private member of society, but by a special divine 
commission and authority, and the miraculousness 
of the fact, is a satisfactory attestation to the inno- 
cence of it. Had the herd gone mad of themselves, 
as we say, no one would have thought of assigning 
the event as an objection against Divine Providence j 
nor do we find that the Gadarenes ever made the least 
objection of this sort against our Saviour's conduct. 

3d. It proved, in the most convincing manner, 
the reality of diabolical agency ; for, says Dr. Dod- 
dridge, "it was self-evident that a herd of swine 
could not be confederates in any fraud : their death, 
therefore, in this destructive circumstance, was tea 
I thousand times a greater blessing to mankind, than 
if (hey had been slain for food as was intended.'' 
And Dr. Macknight judiciously observes, that 
Jesus Christ " permitted the Devils to enter into 
the swine, not only because he knew it would render 
the miracle more public, but, because it would 
prove the reality of the POSSESSION, and 
make men understand both how great the power of 



100 



DEMONIACAL POSSESSIONS, &C. 



evil spirits is, and how terrible the effects of their 
malice would be, if they were not restrained.* For 
no sooner was the permission granted, than the 
keepers who were with the swine, and the discipW 
who were at a distance, beheld to their great aston- 
ishment, the whole herd running furiously down 
the mountain, and leaping from the tops of the 
rocks into the sea, where they were drowned to the 
number of two thousand, while the possessed furious 
mad men became all of a sudden weak and compos- 
ed, having recovered the entire use of their rea- 
son ; the first exercise of which, doubtless, would 
lead them to an high admiration of his goodness, 
who had delivered them from the oppression of the 
Devil." " The whole history teaches us to rely oa 
the providence of God, and not to live in fear of 
evil spirits They are under the strictest restraint 
and cannot hurt us without the divine permission. 1 * 
With these remarks I leave the reader to judge for 
himself, and may God give his blessing. 

** Dr. Jortin says, "that evil spirits had more influ- 
ence over the bodies of men at that time, that the power 
of Jesus Christ over sin and Satan might be manifested 
in expelling them and putting them to open shame, and 
thus even make them unwilling witnesses of the truth 
of his gospel. Thus, men beheld the vile nature and 
the terrible force of these apostate spirits, and at the 
same time the superior power and goodness of the Sa- 
viour of the world who delivered miserable men ironi 
such dreadful enemies/ 3 



CHAP. V. 



A more direct Reply to the Lecture. 

The first passage of Scripture which contains a 
reference to the subject in debate, is in the Book of 
Genesis, 3d chapter and 1st verse — " Now the ser- 
pent was more subile than any beast of the field." 
Perhaps no part of the sacred history has so much 
perplexed the Unitarians, as this now under con- 
sideration, in order to explain it agreeably with the 
hypothesis of no Devil. The method which some 
have taken, in order to evade the force of the nar- 
rative, supposes that the Serpent is a personifica- 
tion of moral evil. To which I reply, that accord, 
ing to this mode of interpretation, the 14th verse 
of the same chapter ought to be paraphrased thus: — 
And thou moral evil, art cursed above all cattle, 
and above every beast of the field ; and thou, moral 
evil, upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt 
thou eat all the days of thy life. Therefore, such 
an hypothesis as this, carries its own refutation, 
and the bare mention of it is sufficient to expose it. 
While others consider the whole to be an allegory ; 
then we have not only an allegorical serpent, but 



102 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



an allegorical tree, bearing allegorical fruit, and an 
allegorical garden, an allegorical woman, formed 
allegorically out of an allegorical man, who partook 
of the fruit of an allegorical tree, and thereby be- 
came subject to an allegorical death ; but God, by 
an act of infinite love and goodness to this allegori- 
cal man, redeemed him by an allegorical redemp- 
tion — in a word, an allegorical world. I should 
not have troubled the reader with such dogmas as 
these, had it not been to give a specimen of the 
criticism of those men, who can bestow such high 
compliments upon themselves, and the rationality 
of their religion. But Mr. H. is well aware of the 
absurdity of such interpretations as these ; and be- 
ing unable to find out an explication more plausi- 
ble, he therefore, in order to extricate himself from 
this dilemma, rejects the whole narrative from his 
creed. "The history of the fall," says Mr. H. 
"is a mere tradition, and a tradition of a most 
corrupt kind; totally inconsistent with itself; 
founded on false principles ; and having no pre- 
tension whatever to a divine revelation. And he 
again adds, %\ that what has been called the Mosaic 
history of the creation, is a mere fahleP In a 
word, he rejects the zchole Pentateuch, us fabulous 
and false. The inspiration of Leviticus and Deu- 
teronomy, he positively denies in the present Lec^- 
ture, which is now under review. It is a matter of 
very suspicious circumstance, as to the truth of any 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 103 



system, which, in order to support it, obliges its 
devotees to such preposterous means. By this 
means, a system, however absurd, might be sup- 
ported. " The genuineness of the Pentateuch may 
be inferred from the universal concurrence of all 
antiquity. The rival kingdoms of Judea and Israel, 
the hostile sects of Jews and Samaritans, and 
every denomination of early Christians, received 
the Pentateuch as unquestionably written by Moses. 
It is also mentioned and referred to by many Hea- 
then authors, in a manner, which shews k plainly 
to have been the general and undisputed opinion of 
the pagan world, that this book was the work of 
the Jewish Legislator." But why refer to the uni- 
versal opinion of antiquity, to prove the inspiration 
of the Pentateuch, and the reality of its author, 
when infallible proof is at hand. In the New Tes- 
tament, the writings of the Law, or Pentateuch, 
are expressly ascribed to Moses. " We have found 
him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets 
did write and in a variety of passages in the 
Gospels, Acts, and Epistles, Moses is evidently con- 
sidered as the author of the Pentateuch; and every 
one of the five books is quoted, as written by him. 
The inspiration of the Pentateuch is infallibly 
proved by Jesus Christ. For he calls the words 
of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, the words 
af God himself. For God commanded, saying, 
* John i, 45. 



104 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

" Honour thy Father and thy Mother.* 1 * Hence, 
it is certain from revelation, that Moses wrote the 
Pentateuch by the immediate inspiration of God. 

Notwithstanding Mr. H.'s inability to explain 
the Mosaic history, consistently with his own sys- 
tem, he has endeavoured to prove, that an invisi- 
ble supernatural evil Being is not contained in the 
narrative, or that the history fails to prove such a 
Being, supposing it to be true. But what are the 
reasons which Mr. H. brings forward ? They are as 
follow : — " We trill, for the sake of argument, 
suppose this history to be true ; and what would it 
then prove — that a natural animal, whom some in- 
genious men have supposed to have been a walking 
snake, others a satyr, others an ape, and others a 
winged seraph, conversed with Eve, and excited 
her to disobedience ; but if our credulity could car- 
ry us to the belief of this as a matter of fact, even 
such a fact would be very far from demonstrating 
the existence of an invisible malignant being, pos- 
sessed of almost divine attributes; and indeed, the 
history itself, (supposing it to be true) proves, that 
this tempter must have been some animal, whose 
nature and properties were well known ; because it 
is said to have been wiser than all the beasts of the 
field, but for its offence, deprived of its erect form, 



* Matt. xv. 4, to which, compare Ex, xx. 12. Lev. 
xix. 3. Deut. v. 16. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 105 



and condemned to creep on the ground, together 
with its posterity, ever afterwards, so that it cer- 
tainly could not have possessed any thing like 
UBIQUITY." Wonderful reasoning ! admirable 
philosophy ! What has all this bombast proved ? 
That a natural animal does not fill all space. Won- 
derful deduction ! — a deduction, that a man possess- 
ed of common sense would blush to have drawn. 
Surely it is not necessary for the tempter to be om- 
nipresent, in order to render him supernatural. 
Mr. H. has reasoned on the supposition, that the 
tempter was only a mere animal ; whereas this sup- 
position is absolutely false, and he contradicts him- 
self; for, says he, " in the Book of Genesis, we 
read that Eve was tempted to disobey the divine 
command, by an evil being, in ihe form of a ser- 
pent." And Mr. H. knew very well, that not one 
of those divines to whom he has alluded, thought 
that the tempter was a mere animal in the abstract. 
That Divines have trifled with this part of sacred 
history, I readily grant ; yet it does not follow, 
that it is not true, or that there is not an evil be* 
ing. The history itself evidently supposes, that 
the tempter was something more than a mere ani- 
mal— " I will put enmity between thee and the wo* 
man, and between thy seed and her seed ; it, ((hat 
is Christ) shall bruise thy head, and thou, (that 
is the tempter) shall bruise his heel." This verse 
is significant of the whole plan of redemption — and 



106 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

to bruise the head, means a total and final over- 
throw ; but who could be so foolish as to suppose, 
that the sacred historian meant that Christ should 
bruise the head of a mere animal, and give it a to- 
tal and final overthrow. We are told that Eve was 
deceived and tempted to transgress the law of God, 
by an agent who could speak and reason, called by 
Moses the Serpent; because of the craft and sub- 
tilty he exhibited in the seduction of our first pa- 
rents, which he saith was more subtle than any beast 
of the field. But a beast of the field, how subtle 
or sagacious soever, could not speak and reason. 
Who then was the agent that deceived Eve? St. 
Paul speaks of this deceiver in the same manner as 
Moses — " I fear, lest by any means, as the Ser- 
pent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your 
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is 
in Christ."* The apostle did not suppose that the 
Corinthians might be corrupted by the subtlety of 
an irrational creature; consequently, he did not 
suppose that Eve was deceived by a mere animal. 
Hence, it is evident, that it was the Devil, or Sa- 
tan, an evil supernatural spirit, which tempted Eve. 

Again, says Mr. H. " In the book of Leviticus, 
(xvii. 7. ) it is said, that the Israelites shall no 
more offer their sacrifices to Devils Now, even sup- 
posing this book to have been written by Divine 
* 2 Cor. xi. 3. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 107 



authority, this passage proves nothing, because this 
word should have been translated goats, or hairy 
animals ; and, therefore, plainly refers to the religi- 
ous rites of the surrounding Idolators." Having 
already proved the inspiration of ihe Pentateuch, 
I shall only observe in passing, had the book of 
Leviticus not been at war with his creed, he would 
not have denied its authority. He supposes that 
this passage proves nothing, because the word 
rendered Devils, ought to have been translated 
[goats, whereas the fact is quite the reverse, for 
i idolatry, is worshipping the Devil ; and although the 
(children "of Israel did not directly or inientionally 
i worship him, yet they did by construction or con- 
sequence, because the Devil is the author of idola- 
I try, and is eminently served and honoured by it. 

We read, 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, there was one that 
moved David against Israel to say — "Go, number 
[Israel and Judah." This, we are told, 1 Chron. 
xxi. 1, was Satan. But the Unitarians say, it was 
not a supernatural being, but " one of David's 
counsellors, who first started and advised the pro- 
ject." They say — " It is reasonable to think this, 
because Satan means an adversary." Supposing 
[this to have been the case, it is as reasonable to 
think that the Devil put it into the heart of his 
fpunsellors, as well as into the heart of Judas, to 
Uetray our blessed Saviour : so that the Devil had 
i principal hand in the affair. Therefore this plea, 



108 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

that it was one of David's counsellors, is of no ad- 
vantage to them. But I say it is not reasonable to 
suppose this ; for the sacred historian is very parti- 
cular in telling us the names of David's counsellors, 
and such as had a principal hand in matters of state 
during his reign, and we have the names of persons 
concerned in matters of much less importance than 
this left on record. Had it, therefore, been one of 
his counsellors, that put him upon numbering the 
people, we should, in all probability have heard 
somewhat of him from David himself, or from Joab, 
or from the historian ; but we hear nothing of him 
from David's command, Joab's remonstrance, or 
the historian's account. It is, therefore, reasonable 
to suppose, that this conjecture is false, and with- 
out any foundation at ail. Consequently, 1 shall 
take it for granted, that it was an evil supernatural 
spirit which influenced and prompted David to num- 
ber the children of Israel, contrary to the will of 
God. Again says Mr. Heineken — 46 An evil spirit 
is said to have been sent by the Lord : the expres- 
sion clearly relates to an unhappy disposition of 
mind and contentious temper ; it would be blasphem- 
ous to suppose, that God would employ such a 
being as that called the Devil, as the agent of his 
sovereign will." But is it any more blasphemous, 
than to suppose, that God would employ an unhap- 
py disposition of mind and contentious temper as 
the agent of his sovereign will ? Surely the Su- 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 109 

preme Being may employ whatever agent he thinks 
proper in the execution of his purposes ; he may 
either commission an angel, or let loose a Devil. 
They are only instruments in his hands, and under 
his direction and controul. 

" To consider the Book of Job (says he) in any 
other light than as an allegory, would be to give up 
all title to common sense." On the contrary, he that 
can suppose that Job was a fictitious being, and his 
book a fable, must give up all title as a believer in 
Divine revelation, and appropriate to himself the 
designation of infidel. That Job was a real, and 
not a fictitious character, may be inferred from the 
jnanner in which he is mentioned by the prophet 
Ezekiel and St. James—" Though these three men, 
Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should 
deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, 
saith the Lord God."* As Noah and Daniel were 
unquestionably real characters, we must conclude 
the same of Job. If Job were not a real intelligent 
being, why did the inspired prophet class him with 
Noah and Daniel, and positively call them three 
men, and not only so, but repeated it thrice, as if 
to guard against any mistake of his name ? From 
hence it is evident, that the inspired prophet con- 
sidered him as a real character. To suppose that 
Job was only an imaginary being, is to suppose that 



* Ezek. xiv. 14. 

K 



110 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTCRE. 

the prophet repeated a positive falsehood and ab- 
surdity. " Behold, (says St. James,) we count 
them happy that endure : ye have heard of the 
patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, 
that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. "* 
But adopt Mr. IVM opinion, and the language of 
the Apostle would read thus — Ye have heard of the 
patience of a fictitious being, and have seen the 
end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and 
of tender mercy. But to whom ? A fictitious being ! 
Astonishing chimera ! No person could ever be- 
lieve, unless he were biassed by the most invincible 
prejudice, that the inspired Apostle would refer to 
an imaginary character as an example of patience, 
or in proof of the mercy of God. 

Mr. IT. has, by mere evasion, endeavoured to 
convert the whole into an allegory. Now we must 
observe, that the allusions with which we meet in 
Scripture, are allusions to real facts, and to real 
beings. The writers of the Sacred Scriptures nei- 
ther did, nor could invent, consistent with their 
inspiration, imaginary beings, either for the exer- 
cise of their genius, or the amusement of their 
readers. Such a conduct would but ill become 
those who were commissioned to instruct mankind 
in t/iings spiritual. If, therefore, we should grant 
that the first chapter of Job is an allegory, still we 



* James v. 11. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. Ill 

should maintain, that all its allusions are founded 
in facts, and that the 'poetical mention of Sedan in 
such a book, woukl be a proof of his existence. 
Mankind have invented superstitions enough, with- 
out receiving addition to them from those Scriptures 
which are intended for the destruction of error, and 
the diffusion of divine truth. So far is the Book 
of Job from "darkening counsel by words without 
knowledge" that in that book the practice is reprov- 
ed.* There is no ground for the supposition that 
the book of Job is an allegory. " It is an expo- 
sition of what actually took place, couched in such 
terms as will best convey the truth to human 
minds," In what terms would Mr. H. describe the 
transactions of the invisible world, if he rejects such 
as are used in the chapter in question ? " Have 
these Socinians, who suppose their souls to be no- 
thing but organized matter, refined and spiritualized 
their ideas, so as to speak of spiritual things in any 
other manner than after the manner of men T y 
The Scriptures speak of God after the manner of 
men, condescending to our capacities, in order to 
suit the revelation of his will and providence to our 
apprehensions. And shall we reject those parts of 
sacred truth, and look upon them as fabulous and 
absurdy because God, out of his infinite love and 
goodness to mankind, has been pleased, so far as 



* Job xxx. 8. 



112 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

was necessary, to condescend to speak of himself, 
and (he dispensations of his providence, in a method 
the best adapted to convey to our minds the truth 
of those solemn realities, which is the subject of 
the counsels of the unseen world ? " God forbid 
rather let us adore such amazing condescension, 
and with implicit confidence receive his word, as 
able to make us wise unto salvation, through faith 
in the atonement. 

" Again, in the 109th Psalm, (says Mr. H ) 
4C and also in the book of Ezekiel, Satan is spoken 
of as standing at the right hand of the righteous ; 
the writers evidently refer to temporal enemies, 
and especially those who opposed the reformation 
of the Jewish Church." 1 have not been able to 
find the passage in Ezekiel, which Mr. H. has al- 
luded to, and 1 believe there is not such a passage 
in the Bible ; consequently, I am not able to point 
out its meaning. But the expression in the Psalms, 
in question, we will examine for a moment. The 
whole verse reads thus — " Set thou a wicked man 
over him ; and let Satan stand at his right hand,"* 
Noiv, leaving the passage which Mr. H. says is in 
Ezekiel, out of the question — is it consistent with 
truth for him to say, that " Satan is spoken of as 
standing at the right hand of the righteous," when 
there is not such a sentence in the Psalms, nor any 



* Psalm cix. 6. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 113 

thing 1 said that will justify such a sentence beinsj 
drawn as an inference. The fact is, Mr. H. has 
conjured up this sentence, not only to suit his own 
purpose, but in order that he might with more ease, 
evade the force of the sacred text. The meaning; 
of this passage a|>pears to be this : — Set thou a 
wicked man over him, to be as cruel to him, as 
he hath been to others ; and not only so, but let 
Satan stand at his right hand; or, the adversary 
shall stand at his right hand — that is, an evil spirit 
shall molest, vex, and trouble him in all his affairs; 
or rather, shall accuse and torment him. This 
Psalm is prophetic, and evidently refers to the 
enemies of Christ. And if David spake this in 
reference to Doeg or Ahithophe^ it was only as they 
were types of Judas — at least the Holy Ghost in- 
tended it of him, ami the persecutors of the Mes- 
siah ;* of whom, this whole paragraph to the end 
of verse 19th is a prophecy. And it is unquestion- 
ably certain, that this Psalm does not refer to the 
reformation of the Jewish church, as Mr. H. sup- 
poses. David composed this Psalm, either when 
he was persecuted by Saul, and calumniated by 
Doeg,f or, at the time of Absalom's rebellion, but 
whether, 1 know not. In one part of it he refers to 
the traitor, Ahiihophel, who, in a fit of despair, 
went out and hanged himself,]; in which last cir- 



* Acts i. 20. f 1. Sana. xxvi. 19. t 2 Sain. xvii. 



114 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



curastance be exactly typified Judas, who, without 
all question, was prophetically intended in this 
psalm, for so an inspired Apostle expounds it }* in- 
cluding, however, the persecuting Jews, against 
whom the Psalmist denounces the most dreadful 
judgments. From hence, it is certain, that Mr. 
H. has perverted the passage in question, for the 
Psalmist evidently alludes to the enemies of the 
Messiah, who would be troubled and tormented by 
an evil spirit, as a just punishment for their crimes, 
in betraying and crucifying the Lord of life and glory. 

" Here the just law — the judgment of the skies : 
He that hates truth, shall be the dupe of lies; 
And he that will be cheated to the last, 
Delusion, strong as hell, shall bind him fast," 

Again we read, that Zechariah saw in a vision, 
"Joshua, the high-priest, standing before the angel 
of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand 
to resist him."f The Devil here stands charged 
by the prophet as resisting Joshua. The Unitarians 
contend, that " under the person of Satan, were 
represented Tatnai and Shether-boznai, and other 
enemies of the Jews, who vehemently opposed the ! 
designs of Joshua, about restoring the temple." 
Suppose it was Tatnai and Shether-boznai, and 
other enemies of the Jews, that is here represented 
as resisting Joshua, still it remains for them to 



* Acts i. CO, | Zech. iii. 1. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. I 15 

prove, that Satan, emphatically so called, or the 
Devil, did not put them on to resist him ; for, 
whether it was Satan, the apostate, that resisted 
Joshua, or, that he made use of Tatnai and Shether- 
boznai as his instruments and agents, the charge 
still recoils upon himself, and the existence of a 
Devil is proved. There is no doubt but that Satan 
endeavoured to prevent the rebuilding of the temple 
by every possible means ; not only by exciting Tatnai 
and Shether-boznai, and other enemies of the Jew- 
ish nation, but by himself endeavouriug to divert 
their attention from such a purpose, or by present- 
ing to their minds the most insurmountable difficul- 
ties, in order to discourage them ; and likewise by 
every allurement which was in his power to suggest. 
And lasTly observe, that Joshua, the great high- 
priest, in his prophetic vision, stands as the repre- 
sentative of the whole Jewish nation; and in like 
manner, Satan, the great apostate foe, stands as 
the representative of the whole army of opposers, 
whether spiritual or natural. 

Again, says Mr. H. " In the gospels, Jesus Christ 
is said to have been tempted, or tried, by Diabolos, 
the accuser or calumniator ; but this is evidently a 
scenical representation of what passed in his own 
mind, during his retirement from the world, pre- 
viously to his entrance on his public ministry; we 
may clearly infer from the account which is given, 
that he had retreated to an uninhabited part of the 



116 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



country, where, like John the Baptist, he subsisted 
on the zci/d fruits of the earth." But we want proof 
of this. The Scripture asserts, that he fasted forty 
days. If Jesus Christ subsisted on the wild fruits 
of the earth, why is it said — " And in those days 
he did eat nothing; and when they were ended, he 
afterwards hungered."* And that " Angels came 
and ministered unto him "f Mr. II 's comment 
contradicts the text. lie makes no mention of the 
Spirit, because it is against his creed; but, how- 
ever, the Unitarians generally suppose, that lie was 
led by his own thoughts: but Scripture positively 
declares, that Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, 
returned from Jordan and was led up of the 
Spirit! — " not his own thoughts." One of the 
Evangelists, in order to signify the strength of the 
impulse, expresses it thus — " Immediately the Spirit 
driveth him into the wilderness." Mr. H. says, to 
meditate on his exalted plans; but the Scripture 
says, "to be tempted of the Devil." The Evan- 
gelist names four times the Devil as the tempter, 
and Mr. H. knows that it means a slanderer, and 
he has not been able to find a place where the word 
is used, except where it is applied to some real 
being. Hence, it is declared, that he was tempted 
by Diabolos, the accuser or calumniator, which 
certainly implies a real being. He further adds, 



* Luke iv. 2. f Matt. iv. 11 ; Mark i. 13. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 117 



that Jesus Christ was tempted M by the suggestions 
of an ambition which was natural to the human 
bosom. " Astonishing! but how does he prove this? 
Was there any thing in the conduct of Jesus, or 
is there any thing said in the Scripture, to warrant 
such an assertion f May it not be said with pro- 
priety that he 

" Pretends to take the Christian's part, 
But stabs his Sovereign to the heart," 

Mr. H. has attributed to this Divine Personage, 
inherent depravity, u an ambition that was natural" 
If it was natural, it was inherent ; and if our ador- 
able Redeemer contained within himself the least 
iota of depravity, the whole system of Christianity 
tumbles into ruins, and the bright prospect of fu- 
turity is covered with a dire eclipse. An expression 
this, which is enough to cut the finest fibres that ever 
concreted the hearts of true and genuine Christians. 
But Mr. H. goes on to say, that while Jesus was 
" under the influence of these, (that is, the sugges- 
tions of ambition,) and conscious of the superna- 
tural gifts with which he was endowed, he was 
tempted to make an ostentatious display of his mi- 
raculous powers, and to employ them for the pur- 
poses of self-interest and aggrandisement." But 
by whom was he tempted? It removes not the diffi- 
culty, by saying, that it was the suggestions of 
worldly pride and ambition} for this is only an asser- 



118 A MURE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



tion without the least shadow of proof for its sup- 
port. Neither does it evade the force of the text, 
by saying, "that it was a visionary representation 
for the Evangelist declares, that he was tempted by 
the slanderer, or calumniator, meaning some real he* 
ing. Again, says he, "Although he might have been 
rewarded with the glory of the kingdoms of the earth, 
by paying his homage to the principles of zcorld/j/ 
pride and ambition, yet he could not have been the 
Captain of our Salvation." Why does he call 
Jesus Christ " the Captain of our Salvation/' In 
order that he may give him a more desperate thrust ; 
like an army that retreats, in order to give the 
enemy a more dismal attack. The Unitarians deny 
that the death of Christ was a propitiatory sacrifice 
for sin, and they look upon the doctrine of redemp- 
tion, through his blood, as an entire mistake. Mr. 
Belsham maintains, that u we are totally ignorant 
of the place where he resides, and the occupations 
in which he is engaged ; and, consequently, that 
there can be no gratitude for favours now received, 
or of confidence in his future interposition on our 
behalf."* But the Scripture speaks in a very different 

* Is it not astonishing, that Mr. Belsham should pro- 
fess to be a Christian minister ? How different are the 
views which he entertains concerning Jesus, the great 
atoning sacrifice, than those entertained by the first her- 
alds of salvation. Without a blush, he tells us, that " tee 
arc totally ignorant of the place ic/tcrc lie resides' 3 But, 
an inspired Apostle tells us, that " Christ is not entered 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 119 

strain ; and thanks be to Gotl, we are not left to 
follow these blind guides, on whose hearts the light 
of Divine Truth has never shone. To the law and 



into the holy places made with hands, which are the fig- 
ures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to 

APPEAR IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD FOR US." Mr. Bel- 
sham further adds, that we are likewise totally ignorant 
of " the occupations in which he is engaged." But, the 
same Apostle, viz. Paul, filled with the power of God, 
and his heart glowing with love to his Divine master, 
asks, " Who is he that condemneth ? — It is Christ that 
died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the 

RIGHT HAND OF GOD, WHO ALSO MAKETH INTERCES- 
SION for us." The Scriptures abound with declara- 
tions concerning Christ, pointing him out as our Medi- 
ator, Advocate, and Intercessor; In a word, as our 
Prophet, Priest, and King. But this refined Deist, 
first declares his ignorance of Jesus Christ, and then 
concludes " that there can be no gratitude for favours 
now received, or of confidence in his future interposition 
on our behalf" Suffer me to ask, is this Christianity ? 
I am persuaded that every candid and impartial reader 
will answer, no. No, this is not our island goddess, 
bearing the mountain freshness on her cheek, and scat- 
tering the valley's bounty from her hand — known by the 
lights that herald her fair presence, the peaceful virtues 
that attend her path, and the long blaze of glory that 
lingers in her train it is a demon in disguise, hiding 
the bloody symbols of its purpose under the sacred and 
glorious name of Christianity. 

The Apostle St. Paul declares, " If any man love 
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema 
Maranatha;" but Mr. Belsham says, that there can 
be no gratitude for favours now received from Christ." 
Therefore Mr. Belsham does not love him. The Apostle 
Peter says, "Unto them which believe he is 



1*20 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



to the testimony. The Apostle Peter tells us, that 
God hath exalted Jesus 44 with his right hand, to 
be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance 

precious ;" but Mr. Belsham receives no favours from 
him, therefore, he has no cause of gratitude ; hence, he 
is an unbeliever. Again, an inspired Apostle tells us, 
" If any man have wot the Spirit of Christ he 
is none of his." Now, as Mr. Belsham knows not 
" where he resides" nor " the occupations in ichich he is 
engaged/' and, consequently, he has no gratitude, be- 
cause he receives no favours from him, it necessarily 
follows, that Mr. Belsham has not the "Spirit of 
Christ, and therefore he is none of his." The 
Apostle Peter exhorts those to whom he wrote, to "be 

SOBER, AND HOPE TO THE END, FOR THE GRACE THAT 
IS TO BE BROUGHT UNTO YOU AT THE REVELATION OF 

jesus christ." The same Apostle says in another 
place to the suffering people of God, " But rejoice, in- 
asmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that, 
when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be 
glad also with exceeding joy." And Jesus Christ 
says himself, " Behold 1 come quickly, and my re- 
ward IS with me, to give to every man as his 
work shall be." But as Mr. Belsham has no confi- 
dence in his future interposition in his behalf, he cer- 
tainly does not take his religion from the Bible. There- 
fore he is not a Christian Minister; and, "When he 
(christ) shall come to be glorified in his saints, and 
to be admired in all them that believe," he will have 
neither lot nor part in the matter, but must be banished 
from the presence of God, and from the glory of his 
power. Well might Mrs. Barbanld call Unitarianism 
"Christianity in the Frigid Zone," for in that 
region, the Son of righteousness has never risen, 
therefore it is blasted with an eternal frost. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 121 



to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."* And the 
Apostle Paul says— " Let us run with patience the 
race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the 
Author and Finisher of our faith ; who, for the joy 
that was set before him, endured the cross, despising 
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the 
throne of God."f And again, " He is able also to 
feave them to the uttermost, that come unto God by 
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession 
for thera."J And the Apostle St. John tells us, 
that " we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus 
Christ the righteous : and he is the propitiation for 
our sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the sins 
of the whole world." || Is it not then a thing most 
wonderful, that these men should pretend to take 
their religion from the Bible. The Unitarians never, 
with animation, display the love of Christ in our 
redemption. They call him our Saviour occasion- 
ally. They propose him as an example, but when 
do they make him the foundation of our hope, 
speak of him as the only name through which we 
must be saved — treat largely on his character and 
offices, and dwell with animation on his redeeming 
love ? When does Mr. H. urge his audience to 
flee to him, and depend on him for life and salva- 
tion ? Therefore, to call Jesus Christ "the Cap- 

* Acts v. 31. f Heb. xii. 1, 2. $ Heb. vii. 25. 
; || 1 John ii. I, 2. 

L 



122 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

tain of our Salvation," and at the same time to deny 
his atonement, is the most unaccountable rhapsody, 
and a violation of every principle of propriety. 
Again, says Mr. H. "Although he thus had it in 
his power to have become rich, yet, for our sakes, he 
became poor, that we through his poverty might be 
made rich ; and thus did he deny himself, and be- 
came of no reputation, and took upon him the form 
of a servant. In this way we may very rationally 
explain the history." How these two misapplied 
passages can serve as a key to explain this part of 
our Lord's history, I am at a loss to determine. 
These two passages are an evident proof that our 
Lord was more than human, or that he was truly 
Divine, though they have been miserably perverted 
by the false reasoning of these men. Without en* 
tering into any particular discussion relative to the 
Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, I shall only, ia 
passing, make a few remarks on those Scripture 
truths, in order to shew the absurdity of this wild 
chimeraist, in thus perverting the sacred truths of 
the gospel. Now, I would ask, when was he rich 
as a man? When was he born in a stable, and 
laid in a manger ? When he said — " The foxes have 
holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the 
Son of Man hath not where to lay his head ?" At 
what time was he rich, and how did he become poor ? 
The answer which the Unitarians generally give to 
these and similar questions is — ? He never became 



F 
lor 

sir 



lot 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 123 

poor. 1 ' The original word does not denote his 
passing from an antecedent state of opulence, to a 
subsequent state of poverty, but his living in pov- 
erty, although he was at the same time rich. 
" While he was rich, yet for our sakes he lived in 
poverty." " If, for a moment, (say3 a learned au- 
thor,) overlooking his criticisms, you require, how 
was this ? How was it, that, although rich, he 
lived in poverty ? The reply is — 6 He was rich in 
miraculous pozoers, which it was at his oim option to 
employ for his own benefit? Miraculous powers, 
which it was at his own option to employ for his own 
benefit!! What a strange supposition is this! 
! What ! a prophet of the Most High, with miracu- 
llous, that is, with Almighty power, at his own dis- 
posal, to use as he may incline, for promoting his 
own wealth, and honour, and aggrandizement! 
1 Divine power transferred to a creature ! Subjected 
to the will and pleasure of a mere man, 1 a fallible 
and peccable man.* Such transference of Divine 
power, I would, in the first place remark, is a na- 
tural impossibility. The might which effects the 
miracles resides in God alone. It never can belong 
to the creature; and residing as it must in God 
alone, it can never be exerted to gratify the will of 
a creature, who would pervert it to a selfish purpose, 
or to any purpose different from that which he is 
commissioned to accomplish, and for the accomplish- 
ment and vindication of which alone, the interpo- 



124 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



sition of the power is pledged. The contrary sup- 
position is pregnant with consequences the most 
serious and fatal. It destroys the certainty of the 
evidence of miracles, and thus subverts one of the 
main pillars on which the truth of Christianity rests. 
Meantime, consider how full it is of beauty and of 
force, when referred to him, who, although rich as 
the Great Creator and Sovereign Proprietor of the 
universe, became poor in the assumption of our 
nature, making no use in that nature of those 
riches, which were all his own, but 6 humbling him- 
self, and becoming obedient unto death, even the 
death of the cross.' This is grace indeed ! Grace 
that shall be the theme, the worthy theme of ever- 
lasting song !" 

** Kind bowels yparning in the eternal Son, 

" He left his Father's court, his heav'nly throne ; 

** Aside he threw his most divine array, 

" And wrapt his Godhead in a veil of clay." 

" But if we consider" (says Mr. H.) " this trial 
as arising from the natural suggestions of zcorldlu 
ambition, all the difficulties immediately vanish." 
And he further adds, that this view is " fully 
illustrated by every subsequent action of his life."— 
Is it not astonishing, that Mr. H. should profess 
to be a follower of Jesus Christ ? When did he 
discover the least proof of worldly "pride and am- 
bition" — was it when he washed his disciples' feet, 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE* 125 

or when he agonised in the garden, or when he hung 
upon the cross ? In what part of his life did worldly 
pride and ambition ever appear ? Is not this a 
plain proof, that Mr. H. denies the " Lord that 
bought him ? He supposes that " all the difficulties 
immediately vanish" by supposing, that after Jesus 
Christ had received miraculous power, he was tempt- 
ed by an innate principle of worldly ambition. 
But this opinion, instead of removing the difficulties, 
only increases them, and makes the history of our 
Lord's temptation ten thousand times more myste- 
rious. Besides, this opinion is at variance with the 
whole tenor of Scripture, and every action of his 
life; it degrades his character, and destroys the 
foundation of all our hope. Neither does this hy- 
pothesis in the least explain the tragedy ; for the 
Scripture says, he was tempted by the Devil, or the 
calumniator ; not worldly ambition. Did worldly 
ambition lead Christ into the wilderness? — did 
worldly pride carry him upon the battlements of the 
temple? — did worldly ambition take him " up into 
an exceeding high mountain ? — was it worldly pride 
that said, if thou wilt fall down and worship me, I 
will give thee all the kingdoms of the world, and 
the glory of them ? — was it for maintaining a struggle 
with worldly pride and ambition, that caused the 
heavenly messengers to wing their flight to minister 
-unto him t — But 1 refrain from drawing the absurd, 

-the unphilosophic conclusion, and will pass on to 

l2 



126 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

notice the objections which Mr. H. has brought 
against the literal interpretation. They are as fol- 
low : — "If we follow the common notion, we shall 
find it full of absurdities and contradictions, carried 
about from place to place through the air, by the 
power of an evil Being, whose supposed empire in 
the world he came to destroy ; enticed by offers and 
promises, which he must have well known this Be- 
ing could not fulfil ; placed in circumstances which 
were impossible ; and urged to prostrate himself 
before, and to pay divine honours to one, whom he 
knew to be the most malignant enemy, both of 
himself, and of the benevolent Being, whose work 
lie came to perform ; how could such circumstances 
(even supposing them possible) have afforded a mo- 
mentary trial to his virtue r" 

In the first place, I remark, that there is no ne- 
cessity to suppose that Satan flew with our Saviour 
through the air. Although it is said that the Devil 
set him upon the pinnacle of the temple, he did not 
doit by flying through the air with him, as Mr. H. 
intimates ; but by going up with him to the roof of 
one of the cloisters, where the people were at liberty 
to walk, and by assisting him in getting up upon the 
battlements thereof. 

2ndly. The common interpretation is not so full 
of absurdities, as Mr. H. supposes. The objections 
which he has advanced, fall with equal we ght upon 
his own hypothesis, The strength of Mr. II.'s ob- 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



127 



jection in the supposition, that Jesus Christ knew, 
or was well acquainted, with the character of the 
tempter. But did he not know likewise, that dread- 
ful nature of worldly pride and ambition ; how it 
eclipsed in a moment all the splendour, virtue, and 
dignity, of angels, and overcast in a moment, all 
their beautiful and eternal prospects ; or did he not 
know that pride and ambition were the principal 
causes of all the misery in the world ? And by rea- 
son of it, kingdoms have been desolated, and con- 
querors, and warriors, whilst under its dazzling 
fervour, have delighted in war and in blood. And is 
not pride and ambition hostile to God's moral go- 
vernment, and subversive of the whole kingdom of 
divine grace? Is not pride placed among that 
black catalogue of evils, which Christ came to de- 
stroy ? Hence, he has denounced against that prin- 
ciple the most dreadful woes ; therefore, (to retort 
Mr. H.'s question upon himself, I would ask,) how 
could pride and ambition " afford a momentary 
trial to his virtue ?" — Mr. H. has attributed to th * 
Saviour of mankind, a Devi/, without a substance ; 
and an evil principle walking about, without a real 
Being in which to inhere. An absurdity too glar- 
ing to be admitted by any reasonable man.* 

* Query, would Mr. H. and his Unitarian Brethren, 
find that principle of pride and ambition, so observa- 
ble in the human bosom, if they were discussing the 
question of the depravity of human nature? — Here 
they find it observable in Jesus Christ. 



128 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



Again, as Adam had been overcome by Satan, it 
is reasonable to suppose, that Jesus Christ, the 
second Adam, should have a personal conflict, in 
order that he might demonstrate his power over the 
apostate foe. It is plain from the history itself, 
that the contest was a pre-concerted design, a mea- 
sure approved by heaven, and subservient to the 
grand design in which our Saviour was engaged in 
rescuing mankind from the power of Satan. Pro- 
bably the Devil transformed himself into an angel 
of light, hoping thereby the better to deceive him. 

The Divinity of our Lord was also quiescent, 
and that he overcame him by virtue of the Spirit, 
which was given him. Thus he suffered being 
tempted, that he might afford suitable help to us 
when we were tempted. It is agreed by most or- 
thodox divines, (says Dr. Whitby.) that the Di- 
vinity in Christ was so quiescent for the space of 
thirty years, as to afford no specimen of its resi- 
dence in him ; why might it not be quiescent also 
in those things which bad a particular reference 
to his prophetic office, and also in those parts of 
his life, which are set forth as an example, in order 
that we should follow his steps. Therefore, Jesus 
Christ, as man, endured and overcame the allure- 
ments of Satan by the sole energy of the Divine 
Spirit. 

The Rev. Rowland Hill, in his Village Dia- 
logues, has treated the impious folly of represent- 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 129 



ing scriptural realities as mere figures, with that 
pointed irony which cannot fail to produce the 
effects he intended. He introduces one of his 
dialogists, Mr. Wisehead, as saying-, " We can- 
not believe that there is any such a thing as the 
Holy Ghost ; nor can we believe there is> any such 
thing as the Holy Spirit. Consequently, we have 
nothing to do with the abstruse notion of regenera- 
tion, or, as it is called, the work of the Spirit. We 
believe that such sort of expressions are to be taken 
as oriental figures, or as tropical language, and 
that it only means a good disposition. We there- 
fore deny the doctrine of original sin, as there is 
quite as much virtue as vice in the world ; and we 
have no doubf at all, as to the Devil, that he is en- 
tirely a fabulous character ; and as to what is said 
concerning those who were possessed of the Devils, 
it were irrational to suppose, that it could mean any 
thing further, than that 6 they were mad, or had hys- 
teric fits and as the existence of angels, though 
there are frequent allusions to it in the New Tes- 
tament — 4 Yet it is a doctrine that cannot be proved, 
or made probable, from the light of nature; 
and what have we to do with the New Testament, 
while it contradicts the light of nature ? Notwith- 
standing therefore the allusion, we choose to say, 
' this is no where taught as a doctrine of revela- 
tion.' A judicious Christian, therefore, will dis- 
card it from his creed ; and that not only as a 



130 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

groundless, but a useless and pernicious tenet, 
which tends to diminish our regard to tiie Omnis- 
cient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent God, and to 
excite superstitious respect to, and unreasonable 
expectations from, imaginary and fictitious beings.* 
When therefore we hear how Jesus was tempted 
in the wilderness, it was (for we always taik very 
rationally in our way ) only an allusion to a fictitious 
being ; and the proper and most rational meaning is, 
that he was fighting with some good and bad thoughts, 
which alternately possessed him ; but such were the 
eastern metaphors and oriental figures, then in use." 

To these considerate replies, then, Sir, might it 
not have sounded still more rational, had you made 
it out that he was fighting with two eastern 
metaphors or oriental figures ; that when the angel 
spake to Zacharias about the birth of John, the 
forerunner of our Lord, he should not have said— 
4 1 am Gabriel,' but, 4 [ am an oriental figure, and 
that it was nothing but an oriental figure that spake to 
Mary on the same subject?' And that eastern me- 
taphors, or oriental figures, appeared unto the shep- 
herds, and sung — 1 Glory to God in the highest, 
on earth peace, and good will towards men.' And 
then, again, that our Lord had another meeting of 
these eastern metaphors, and oriental figures in the 
Mount of Transfiguration ; that an eastern meta- 



* Belsliam's Caution, p. 21. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 131 



phor opened the prison in which Peter was confined ; 
and that an oriental figure knocked off his fetters ? 
That Paul was converted at the sight of these 
Eastern metaphors ? That Stephen saw somewhat 
of the same sort before he was stoned ? And that 
an eastern metaphor stood by Paul when nearly 
shipwrecked ? And if these be not enough, I could 
give you further lucubrations on your rational 
way of explaining these eastern metaphors." 

Mr. 11 ill adds, "the Socinians suppose they 
have a right to take these preposterous liberties on 
this subject, because these spiritual existences are 
described as being powers and virtues." There- 
fore, they are not real existences, but figurative 
allusions. We will produce a few passages where 
the real existence of such spirits is positively men- 
tioned, and then we shall see how far common sense 
will befriend them in their rational religion. 

Beelzebub, the prince of the Devils — the prince 
of the eastern metaphors — Unto which of the an- 
gels, (oriental figures) said he, at any time 4 this 
day have I begotten thee. 7 Let all the angels of 
God (eastern metaphors) worship him* — Our Lord 
cast out a whole legion of eastern metaphors from 
the man among the tombs, and the same set of 
eastern metaphors drove the swine into the sea. 
Whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities, 
and powers — all tropical language, only eastern 
metaphors. Christ spoiled principalities and povv- 



132 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 




crs : he spoiled eastern metaphors and oriental 
figures. The ministering spirits sent forth to min- 
ister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, these 
are also to be understood as nonentities, or oriental 
figures. The angels ( oriental figures) who kept 
not their first estate. There was fire prepared for 
the Devil and his angels (for an eastern metaphor 
and his oriental figures ) But enough of this, I 
had not troubled the reader with so much, on a 
supposition so absurd, had it not been to give a fair 
specimen of the wisdom of those who can bestow 
such high compliments on themselves, and on the 
rationality of their religion." 

In the parable of the tares and the wheat, an 
evil supernatural being is plainly declared to exist. 
In answer to those questions relative to the tares 
growing up with the wheat, He, (that js, Christ) 
said unto them, an enemy hath done this. But 
when he explained this parable to his disciples, he 
Slid, that this enemy was the Devil, on the accuser, 
a supernatural evil being, who is either the direct 
or the indirect cause of all wickedness. That this 
is the proper import of the word Devil in this 
place, may be inferred from the parable itself. 
For after Jesus had addressed the multitude in 
parables, his disciples came unto hi assaying, " de- 
clare unto us the parables of the tares of the field." 
Then he began and explained unto them the pro- 
per import of this parable. Now, can any reason- 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 133 

able person for a moment suppose, that Christ 
would deceive his beloved disciples by using a 
word which implies a real being. Why did he not 
say that this enemy was a "corrupt principle" 
rather than a Devil. And this will appear still 
more clear, when it is considered that he had laid aside 
his parabolical language, and was teaching his dis- 
ciples in private the great truths contained in this 
parable. Therefore it is reasonable to suppose that 
he would use language the most proper and easy to 
be understood, and particularly when they were so 
much perplexed about the tares, and the enemy that 
sowed them ; therefore, it casts a reflection on our 
Lord to suppose that he would tell them, " that the 
tares were the children of the evil one, and the 
enemy that sowed them was the Devil, if there 
was no evil one or Devil in existence. 

When he explained to his disciples the parable 
of the sower, he said, "Now, the parable is this: 
the seed is the word of God ; those by the way side 
are they that hear ; then cometh the Devil and 
taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they 
should believe and be saved."* Mark says, " that 
Satan cometh immediately." And Matthew, " then 
cometh the wicked one." The Devil is said to 
come and take away the word from this sort of 
hearers, not because he has power to rob men of 
their religious impressions by any immediate acts, 
* Luke viii. II, 12. 

M 



134 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

but because they expose themselves through care- 
lessness to the whole force of the temptations which 
he lays in their way. 

Note lastly, that Mr. H.'s mode of explanation 
is only an evasion, overlooking the first class of 
hearers, which are said to be like seed sown by the 
Way side, and substituting in their room those which 
are compared to seed falling among thorns, and 
likewise by paying no regard to the proper explana- 
tion of those parables as given by our Lord. He 
acknowledges that the enemy that sowed the tares, 
was the " accuser, or the adversary" " But he evades 
the proper import of these terms by a positive false- 
hood : for says he, "Our Lord plainly declares 
that these expressions, as well as those of the good 
and bad seed, were figurative illustrations." Where 
does he say so ? Not in the parables, nor in any 
other place. I have already observed, that our 
Lord in the explanation of those parables to his 
disciples, bad laid aside his parabolical language. 
As a proof of this we would observe, that after 
Jesus had delivered the parable of the sower, his 
disciples came and said unto him, u Why speakest 
thou unto them in parables r" The import of the 
question is this — Why is it, when thou speakest 
unto us, thou doest it without a parable, thou talk- 
est to us in plain language ; when thou preachest 
unto us the gospel of the kingdom, it is without 
the aid of parabolic language ; why is it ? then, that 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 13> 

thou speakest unto us in plain terms, but to the 
ignorant multitude in parables r" He answered 
and said unto them, " Because it is given unto you 
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, 
but to them it is not given."* As much as if he 
had said, my speaking to the multitude in parrables 
need be no obstacle to you, for should I say any 
thing which you do not fully comprehend, you 
have only to ask me and I will give you proper in- 
formation. " For it is given unto you to know the 
mysteryt of the kingdom." As love and sincerity 
give the first impetus to alt your inquiries after 
truth, you are thereby prepared to hear and receive 
my doctrines when delivered in their plainest and 
simplest manner possible, but to the rest of the 
multitude it is not given ; that is, such is their pride, 
avarice, hypocrisy, and unbelief, that if I were to 
deliver my doctrines to them as I do to you, it 
would have the most injurious tendency ; instead 
of proving to them the savour of life unto life, it 
would only increase their prejudice, exasperate their 
minds, and thereby prove to them the savour of 
death unto death — therefore I speak unto them in 
parables. Hence, it is certain that our Lord nei- 
ther said nor did explain these parables in a figu- 

* Matt. xiii. 10, It. 
t A mystery, in the scriptural use of the term, signi- 
fies a subject in religion, in which we can know nothing, 
except hij revelation, and nothing more than is revealed. 



136 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

rative sense, and that the Devil and the wicked one 
are terms which properly signify an evil supernatu- 
ral being. 

Mr. H. further adds, " that the enemy which 
opposed itself to the upright, was the God of this 
world ; , which, in another place, he (Christ) calls 
the mammon of unrighteousness, or that spirit of 
pride, avarice, and ambition, by which bad men are 
governed." Here, observe, he makes the phrase 
" mammon of unrighteousness" and the " spirit of 
pride, avarice and ambition" to be synonymous, 
and mean one and the same thing. What an ab- 
surdity ! The sentence occurs in St. Luke's gospel, 
xvi. chap. 9 ver. " Make to yourselves friends of 
the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail 
they may receive you into everlasting habitations." 
That is, endeavour to make yourselves sure friends 
of those riches which may not improperly be called 
the unrighteous or deceitful mammon (as so little 
confidence can be reposed in them,) that zchen you 
fail, and die out of this world, they may receive you 
into everlasting habitations, and you may for ever 
enjoy the reward of your pious charity and love in 
an everlasting friendship with all those truly worthy 
persons who have been relieved by it.* The con- 
trary supposition is pregnant with absurdity and 
contradiction. For instance, can any reasonable 

* See Doddridge, Macknight, and Scatt, on the place. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 137 



man, for a moment, suppose that Jesus Christ would 
say to his beloved, disciples, " Make to yourselves 
friends with the spirit of pride, avarice, arid am~ 
bition, that when you fail (die) they (the spirit of 
pride, avarice, and ambition,) may receive you into 
everlasting habitations r" What ! corrupt and evil 
principles in the eternal regions above! What! 
will corrupt principles hail the heirs of salvation 
welcome in the atmosphere of unsullied bliss and 
purity ! ! A man that will thus pervert the gospel 
of Christ ought to be suspected of every thing he 
saith. * 

In the 25th chap of St. Matthew's gospel and 
44ih verse, we read of the condemnation and pun~ 
isbment of the Devil. When our Lord alludes to 
rte final destiny of wicked men, he says, " Depart 
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared 
for the Devil and his angels.' 1 '* Thus has he point- 
ed out the antecedent sin of the Devil and his an- 
gels, and the punishment prepared for them, in con- 
tradistinction to those men who are doomed to share 
one common destiny. Hence it is evident, that 
there is a supernatural evil being, called the Devil 
and Satan, who is distinguished from men on the 
one hand, and from mere abstract principles on the 
other. Mr. H. supposes that the expression, the 
Devil and his angels, u refers to the persecuting 
Jezcs and Pagans" which is a chimera so absurd, 

that it scarcely deserves a notice. The paragraph 
u 2 



138 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

out of which this verse is taken, evidently refers to 
the judgment of the great day. " When the Son 
of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy 
angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of 
his glory ; and before him shall be gathered all 
nations, and he shall separate them one from another, 
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. 
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but 
the goats on the left. Then shall the King say 
to those on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 
the foundation of the world. But to those on the 
left, he shall say, Depart from me, ye cursed, into 
everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his 
angels"* In this paragraph our Lord has exhibited 
to our view the solemn and awful process of the 
great day. The righteous are hailed welcome to 
the realms of eternal bliss, and to a kingdom prepar- 
ed for them from the foundation of the world ; while 
the wicked are consigned to irreversible misery, pre- 
pared/or ichom't not for MAN, but for the Devil 
and his angels. Therefore, if man became a 
sharer in this punishment, it is by being self -fitted 
for destruction, or by his wilful rebellion against 
the Most High, and rejection of the gospel of 
Christ. But adopt Mr. H.'s view of this passage, 
and the language of Jesus Christ on this occasion 
becomes unintelligible jargon : for according to the 
* See Matt. \w, 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 139 



explanation which he has given of (he Terse in 
question, it would read thus : Depart from me, ye 
cursed, into long enduring punishment, pre- 
pared for the Jew and his Pagans. Mr. II. with- 
out the least iota of proof, either from reason or 
scripture, supposes that the punishments, which in 
this chapter are said to be inflicted on the wicked, 
are only " natural calamities" and that the day of 
judgment here alluded to, only refers to " the se- 
paration of true Christians from the corrupters of 
truth and righteousness, who would thus suffer the 
consequence of their own violence. " Such is the 
verbosity of this all knowing philosopher ! How 
he reconciles this hypothesis with the last verse of 
this chapter I know not, — "And these shall go 
away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous 
into life eternal" Now, if the opinion of Mr. H. 
be correct, the meaning of this verse is this, to use 
his own words, that " the persecuting Jews and 
Pagans, together with their emissaries, who would, 
in consequence of their own schemes of pride and 
ambition, be, for a long series of years, involved in 
the most terrible natural calamities" And he fur- 
ther adds, that this " appears evidently to be the 
day of judgment which is here and in many other 
places spoken of." Consequently, the last clause of 
this verse, instead of alluding to the final glorifica- 
tion of the righteous, only refers to temporal bless- 
ing?, which would be conferred on them for a long 



110 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



series of years for their virtuous fictions ; therefore 
it is evident that he robs the Scripture of all its in- 
trinsic excellence and glory. 1 appeal to every im- 
partial inquirer after truth, whether ever there was 
a greater absurdity ever propagated in the whole 
system of Popery. It is unquestionably certain, 
that Mr. H. and his Unitarian brethren, when en- 
deavouring to support their system from the Bible, 
instead of considering the current languuge of Scrip- 
ture, comparing it with itself, and thus making it 
its own interpreter, do generally strive to con- 
found and perplex the ignorant and unwary, by se- 
lecting and playing upon a few isolated passages. 

In the 8th chapter of St John's gospel and 44th 
verse, Jesus Christ said to his enemies, " Ye are 
of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your 
father you will do. He was a murderer from the 
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because 
there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a 
lie, he speaketh of his own : for he is a liar, and 
the father of it." As to the proper meaning of this 
verse, there can be but one opinion entertained by 
all those who receive the truth in the love of it. 
The language of this passages is altogether unin- 
telligible, on the supposition that there is not in 
existence an evil supernatural being. But Mr. !l. 
has a key that will almost suit ever y lock. Should 
it be asked, what is this key ? I answer, it is the 
word evident, which he almost brings forward <m 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 141 



every occasion, as a sufficient proof to establish every 
proposition. The fact is, it is almost the only 
sure source that he has left, for reason and Scrip- 
ture have proclaimed an eternal war against him. 
He tells us, that u the whole conversation on this 
occasion is evidently a personification of that 
wicked and persecuting spirit, which had for ages 
been so prevalent in the world." He further adds, 
" On another occasion, he (Christ) beautifully ex- 
emplified this wicked and murderous spirit in his 
parable of the vineyard. But let his language 
to the Jews, on this occasion, be understood liter- 
ally, and it would convey an absurd falsehood ; for 
he would positively have asserted that the Jews 
were the descendants of a supernatural evil spirit, 
although he knew that they, as well as himself, 
were the lineal posterity of the righteous Abraham.' 7 
I candidly and honestly confess, that I was struck 
with astonishment, and could scarcely believe my 
own eyes, when I first read this part of Mr. H.'s 
lecture. I got my Bible, and found every one of 
the parables of the vineyard — I read them over and 
over again, and I could not find that the parables 
of the vineyard had the most distant bearing on 
the subject in question. How Mr. H. could, in 
the face of a large congregation, conjure up such a 
barefaced misrepresentation, I am at a loss to de- 
termine, unless he was worse than mad, and thought 
every body else fools. 1 am but 

s( A plain, blunt man, speak directly an." 



142 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



How Mr. H. explains any one of (he parables of 
the vineyard consistent with this part of bis lec- 
ture, would surpass the comprehension of the 
wisest sage that ever lived on the face of animated 
nature. Certain I am, that if we were to understand 
all the parables of the vineyard literally, it would 
be impossible to fix such a meaning upon them as 
that given by Mr. H,, without we had a purpose to 
serve by it, and were determined to have our point, 
like him, at the sacrifice of truth and reason. 

" Thus men go* wrong, with an ingenious skill, 
Bend the straight rule to their own crooked will ; 
And, with a clear and shining lamp supplied, 
First put it out, then take it for a guide: 
Halting on crutches of unequal size, 
One leg by truth supported, one by lies, 
They sidle to the goal with awkward pace, 
Secure of nothing — but to loose the race I" 

When the disciples of Christ returned to inform , $ 
him of their success, they told him in joyful sur- [ 
prise, that " even the Devils are subject unto us ( 
through thy name." He said unto them, I beheld 
Satan as lightning fall from heaven "* I saw him | 
o 1 his first transgressiou, when he was hurled from 
the transparent regions of unsullied bliss and hap- 
piness, to live in an atmosphere of misery and woe, [, 
and well remember how immediate and dreadful 
was his ruin. J L 



* Luke x. 17, 18. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 143 



u Him, the Almighty power 

Hurled headlong, rluming, from th' ethereal sky. 
With hideous ruin and combustion, down 
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell 
In adamantine chains and penal fire, 
Who durst defy the Omnipotent to .arras." 

And I also foresee in spirit, that renewed, swift, 
and irresistible victory, which shall be accomplish- 
ed by the preaching of the gospel, when Satan, the 
prince of the demons, shall be dethroned from his 
usurped dominiou on earth, with the idolatrous 
worship which he has devised to establish ; so that 
your casting out devils is only an emblem of a far 
more and decisive victory, when all rebel powers 
shall be subjugated, and the gospel shall wing its 
way to the ends of the earth. " Satan being spoiled 
of his dominions, may be said to fall from heaven." 
So of the fall of the king of Babylon, the prophet 
says, " How art thou fallen from heaven, O Luci- 
fer !" Of the fall of the colleague of Antonius, 
Cicero says, Thou hast pulled him down from 
heaven. 1 ' €t And when Pompey was overthrown, 
he is said to have fallen from the stars." 

The Apostle St, Paul said to those to whom he 
wrote, 6i that God would bruise Satan under their 
feet shortly."* Thus assuring them that God, the 
author of all their blessings, whether spiritual or 
temporal, would speedily bruise the great enemy of 



* Romans xvi. 20. 



144 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE* 

mankind and all his agents, under their feet, and 
thereby give them, and every true believer, an en- 
tire and final victory^ 

The Devil manages his mode of attack with 
deep subtilty and invidious cunning. Hence, says 
the Apostle, " Lest Satan should get an advantage 
of us" that is, that we may not be overreached by 
Satan. The Apostle adds, "for zee are not ig- 
norant of his devices"* The term devices, signify 
his machinations, far fetches, and contrivances. 
These devices are called by the same Apostle, 
" the wiles of the Devil "f which signifies his craf- 
ty, artful methods to deceive. These fraudulent 
methods are also called the " snare of the Devil." 
This snare the Devil lays with a!l the cunning of 
which he is master, in order to catch and entangle 
the souls of men. " It is, says Bishop Taylor, 
" by the mercy of God we have the quietness of a 
moment, for if the Devil's chains were taken off, 
he would make our beds a terror, our tables to be a 
snare, our sleep fantastic, lustful, and illusive, 
and every sense should have an object of delight 
and danger, an hyena to kiss, and to perish in its 
embraces.'' 

The Apostle Paul, in his second epistle to the 
Corinthians, says, " Satan himself is transformed 
into an angel of light." X It is certain, from the 



* 2 Cor. ii. 11. f Eph. vi. 11. % 2 Cor. xi. 14. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 145 

connexion in which tlvs verse stands, that the 
Apostle alludes to the chief or head of the apostate 
demons. The reason why he informs them of this 
species of imposture, which is carried on by this 
arch-deceiver ? was owing to certain false teachers, 
who had crept into the church, and by reason of 
their splendid eloquence and high pretensions to 
sanctity and sublimity of devotion, deceived their 
deluded followers. The Apostle designates these 
false teachers, " deceitful zeorkers, transforming 
themselves into the Apostles of Christ. And then 
he adds, And no marvel, for Satan himself is 
transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is 
no great thing if his ministers also be transformed 
as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall 
be according to their works." The drift of the 
Apostle's reasoning is this : you need not wonder, 
or be astonished, at such wicked men as these being 
so specious in their appearance and pretensions, for 
even Satan, their master, often disguises himself, 
and tempts the true followers of Christ in the form 
of a heavenly messenger, instead of appearing as 
the prince of darkness. Therefore, if Satan, the 
head and ringleader of all impostures and false 
teachers, thus transforms himself, it is reasonable, 
and only what we may naturally expect, that his 
ministers should transform themselves into the mi- 
nisters of righteousness. Mr. H. supposes, without 
any show of reason, that .ihe Apostle only " refers 

N 



146 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 




to some leading character among those Judaizing 
teachers, who violently opposed his apostolic la- 
bours, and endeavoured again to bring the Chris- 
tian Churches under bondage to the ceremonial law.' 7 
The fact is, that it does not appear that these false 
Apostles were Judaizing teachers, or that they 
ever attempted to re-establish the ceremonial law. 
"For," says Mr. Locke, "if subjection to the 
Jewish rites had been that which the Apostle was 
so zealous against, he would have spoken more 
plainly and warmly, as we see in the epistle to the 
Galatians, and not have touched it only, by the 
bye, slightly, in a doubtful expression. Besides, 
it is plain, that no such thing was yet attempted 
openly, only St. Paul was afraid of it." "Conviction 
and steadiness of principle," says Dr. Beattie, " is 
that which gives dignity, uniformity, and spirit, to 
the human conduct, and without which our happi- 
ness can neither be lasting nor sincere. It consti- 
tutes, as it were, the vital stamina of a great and 
manly character; whereas scepticism betrays a sickly 
understanding, and a levity of mind, from which 
nothing can be expected but inconsistency and j 
folly." 

m The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read 
With loads of learned lumber in his head." 

The existence of a supernatural evil being has 
been believed in all ages, by the wisest and best of 
men that ever graced the republic of letters with 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. Ii7 

their learning, adorned the Christian Church with 
their piety, or benefited the world with their labours. 

The same Apostle informs the Thessalonians, 
that he would gladly have come to Thessalonica 
" once and again but Satan, by raising a storm 
of persecution, hindered him.* The Apostle cer- 
tainly alluded to temporal enemies ; but as Dr. 
Whitby judiciously observes, "they who obstruct 
the progress of the gospel, and persecute the pro- 
moters of it, are the ministers of Satan, and there- 
fore bear his name " The Apostle, in his second 
epistle to this people, warns them of an approaching 
evil, which would befal the Church by reason of 
one whom he demoninates the " man of sin" the 
" son of perdition, whose coming is after the work- 
ing of Satan, with all power and signs, and lying 
wonders."f We shall not stay to enquire whom 
the Apostle meant by the " son of perdition," or 
whether he meant (which is probable) a succession 
of individuals, who would be governed by the same 
dispositions, and induced by the same motives* 
One thing is certain, that this diabolical person 
would gain his object by force, and deep subtilty, 
lying miracles, end every kind of imposture, which 
human ingenuity and satanical cunning were able 
to invent. Mr. H. tells us, that " the wicked 
spoken of, whose cunning is described as after the 



* 1 Thes. li. 18. f 2 Thes, ii. 3, 9 



118 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and 
lying wonders, is an evident reference to some of 
the ecclesiastical oppressors, who would, at a future 
time, domineer over the Church." But he lias 
overlooked the doctrine in question ; he has left us to 
learn who this Satan is, whose working this eccle- 
siastical oppressor is described as coming after. 
Therefore I shall take it for granted, that the Apostle 
alludes to that infernal spirit, which is called else- 
where, the Devil and Satan, who is the great de- 
ceiver of mankind, and the author of all delusions. 
This opinion is supported by the same Apostle, 
who said to his son Timothy, "That in the latter 
times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed 
to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils."* 
Thus, the Apostle informs Timothy, that in the 
latter days some would depart from the true faith of 
the gospel, and that this apostacy would be effected 
by false teachers, who would hearken to seducing 
spirits, and consequently preach those doctrines 
which are divised and suggested by devils or demons. 

He also informs him, that he had delivered Hy- 
raenius and x\lexander unto Satan ;f that is, he had 
openly excommunicated and cast them out of the 
Church of Christ into the visible kingdom of Satan, 
that they might learn not to blaspheme. 

The Apostle, in describing the characteristic 



* 1 Tim. iv. i. 



f 1 Tim. i. 20. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 149 

marks of a scriptural Bishop, says, he must " Not 
be a novice, lest, being lifted up with pride, he fall 
into the condemnation of the Devil"* Here I 
think it is clearly intimated, that pride was the first 
spring of the defection, fall, and ruin, of the Devil. 
Not a novice, that is, he must not be a new convert 
to Christianity, or a new plant in the garden of 
the Church ; and he gives this reason for it — lest> 
being puffed up with pride on account of his being 
promoted to such an high station, he fall into the 
condemnation of the Devil. This reason certainly 
implies, that pride was the Devil's first and chief 
»in, or his affecting some spiritual highness beyond 
the bounds of God's will. Why does the Apostle 
make use of the condemnation of the Devil, to de- 
ter from pride, if that were not the cause of his apos- 
tacy, and the sin for which he was condemned of 
God ? 

He likewise observes, that "some are already 
turned aside after Satan ."t " The converting men 
to the Christian faith," says Dr. Whitby. u being 
the turning them from Satan unto God." The 
casting off the faith may well be styled, "the turn- 
ing aside after Satan" 

The Apostle has pointed out in his second epis- 
tle to his beloved Timothy, how a Christian minis- 
ter ought to conduct himself to those who had fallen 



* 1 Tim. iii. 6. f 2 Tim. ii. 26. 
n 2 



150 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

into the snare of the Devil, or " who are taken cap* 
tive by him at his zci/l" The word rendered 
taken captive" says a learned author, " was origi- 
nally taken from fishing, fowling, or hunting, and 
signified to catch the prey alive, by way of opposition 
to killing it. Hence, it was transferred to other 
things, and here should be rendered caught alive." 
" According to this sense of the word," says Dr. 
Macknight, " it is used by the Apostle with great 
propriety. For the purpose of the Devil's ensnaring 
men, being to kill them. The servant of God who 
takes the wicked alive out of his snare, saves their 
lives, by giving them an opportunity of escaping 
and returning to God." 

" In Hebrews ii. 14," says Mr. H. " the accuser 
is said to have the power of death, which clearly re- 
fers to the strict requisitions and fatal denunciations 
of the Jewish law, which, in the same passage, the 
Apostle declares Jesus Christ came to abolish, in 
order to free men from that fear of death, by which 
they were all their life-time made subject unto bon- 
dage." Mr. H. thinks this is clear, but for what 
reason ? because he supposes that the "staunehest 
advocates for the existence of an evil being will 
hardly venture to maintain, that life and death 
were ever at his disposal." Life and death are at the 
complete disposal of God, who rules the armies of 
heaven, and amongst the inhabitants of the earth, 
aiKUherefcre life and death were never at the disposal 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 151 



of the Jewish law. " For," says the Apostle, "the 
letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life"* And again, 
" if there had been a law-giver which could have 
given life, verily righteousness zcould have been by 
the lazv"f Now, if Mr. H thinks it a sufficient 
reason that the Apostle did not mean an evil being, 
because the staunchest advocates for his existence 
would hardly venture to affirm that life and death 
were at his disposal ; it is equally as good a reason, 
that he did not mean, by the term Devil, the Jew- 
ish law; for I think that the staunchest advocates 
against the existence of an evil being, would hardly 
venture to maintain that life and death were ever 
at the disposal of this law. Besides, I know not 
for what purpose he has conjured up the word Life; 
for certain it is, that it has no connexion with the 
subject ; for if the Apostle meant the Jewish law, 
and that that law could have given life, why should 
Jesus Christ have come to abolish it ? Therefore, 
that system, which depends upon such miserable 
subterfuges as this for its support, is a bad system, 
and stands upon a tottering foundation. Besides, 
the decalogue, or moral law, is not abolished, but 
is in full force now, and will be to the end of time; 
it is only the ceremonial law which Jesus Christ has 
put away, by the sacrifice of himself. Hence, says 
the Apostle, " For by one offering he hath perfected 



* 2 Cor. iih 6. f GaJ. iii. 21. 



152 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

for ever them that are sanctified."* And likewise 
observe, that salvation was as much by faith under 
the Old Testament dispensation as it is now ; and 
by reason of this faith in the atonemont of Christ, 
which was pointed out to them by promises, types, 
and shadows, many of the Old Testament saints 
were delivered from this fear of death. If the 
Apostle meant by the term Devil, or Accuser, the 
Jewish law, then none could be kept subject to this 
bondage but those who were under this law ; conse- 
quently, the whole Gentile nations were exempt from 
this fear of death. But certainly the Apostle had 
the pious Gentiles in view, who were enslaved by 
the fears of death, because they lived without any 
written revelation from God ; therefore they had 
not that bright assurance of the pardon of sin, nor 
that bright hope of a blessed immortality. The 
reasoning of the Apostle is as follows: — 4< Foras* 
mucli then, as the children are partakers of flesh and 
blood, he also himself likercise took part of the same; r 
thatis, as the children were partakers of human na- 
ture, so Christ voluntarily condescended to partake 
of the same, in order that he might stand in the 
nearest relation to them, and be rendered capable of 
suffering and dying, that through death he might 
destroy him that had the pozcer of death, that is, 
the Devil;" that by his death in the flesh, he 



* Heb. x, 14, 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 153 

might frustrate the malicious contrivance of hira 
who first introduced death into the world, that is, 
the Devil. The Devil's intention in tempting our 
first parents was to destroy them, and thereby to put 
an end to the human species. This Satanical de- 
sign the Son of God frustrated, and rendered inef- 
fectual, by assuming our nature, and dying as a sa- 
crifice for sin. The sentence, ;< Him thai had the 
jjoxcer of death" means a power that is usurped by 
guiie; and the Apostle evidently alludes to that era 
when Satan, by an exertion of this power deceived 
our first parents, and, consequently, brought death 
on all mankind. Hence, he is called a "murderer 
from the beginning" But Christ, by his atonement 
and resurrection, would remove the baneful effect 
of this power, and " deliver them, who through 
fear of death were all their life-time subject to bond- 
age ; when one common salvation was preached to 
both Jew and Gentile, and the copious influence of 
the Spirit was poured upon all the nations of the 
earth." ff For veri/u he took not on him the nature of 
angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham 
or, as the margin renders it, ?' he taketh not hold of 
angels, but of the seed of Abraham he taketh hold." 
IJere the Apostle represents the apostate angels, and 
mankind, as it were, falling from an eminence ; but 
our merciful high-priest is represented as catching 



* Heb. ii. 14— 16,. 



154 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



hold of his falling* creature, man, in order to bring 
him back to his former inheritance, while he leaves 
the rebellious angels to fall lower and lower; as on 
them he taketh not hold. The reason of this dif- 
ference probably is, because they rebelled presump- 
tuously against God without a tempter, while the 
first parents of mankind sinned only by the invidi- 
ous cunning of another. 

"On the subject of temptation." (says Mr. H.) 
we have the authority of the Apostle James for 
maintaining, that every man is tempted when he is 
i drawn away by his own lust and enticed.' It is 
generally believed by the most learned men that 
ever graced the republic of letters, that the Apostle, 
by the sentence 4 being drawn azcay by his own lust 
and enticed^ * alludes to the drawing of fish out of 
a river with a baited hook. Therefore, the meaning 
of the Apostle is this, that the corrupt desires of 
our nature prompt us to seize the bait which Satan 
throws in our way ; so we are drawn out of the line 
of duty, as the fish is drawn out of the water by the 
delusive morsel that covers the hook. Therefore, 
instead of this verse being a support for Mr. H. it 
makes completely against him. The Apostle St. 
Peter says, — " Your adversary > the Devil, as a roar- 
ing lion, zcalketh about seeking whom he may 
devour "\ Here, observe, it is not whom he will, 



* James il 14. f I Pet. v. 8. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 155 



but whom he may devour : were his power as great 
as his malice, he would, no doubt, destroy every 
true Christian from off the face of the earth. What- 
ever power he may be possessed of, he is not invul- 
nerable, nor irresistible. lie may be strong, but not 
omnipotent. He may be cunning, but he is not 
omniscient. He walks about, therefore he is not 
omnipresent. He is under the divine controul, 
and in his warfare with human beings, the advan- 
tage is graciously allowed to man. Satan's dominion 
on the earth is hastening to a close. Therefore he 
is of great wrath, because his time is short on the 
earth. Infinite wisdom gives us instructions in the 
Scriptures of Sacred Truth, and if we abide by 
them, and follow the direction of the Holy Spirit, 
we shall never be deceived. Almighty power, and 
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is given 
to every true believer in Christ, enables him to be 
more than conqueror in conflict with Satan on any 
ground, at any time it is his privilege to triumph 

" On even ground against our moral foe." 

This verse with the two following, Mr. H. took 
for his text ; and he tells us that the expressions in 
these verses, evidently relate " to the persecuting 
Jews and Pagans" Suppose that the expression, 
your adversary, the Devil, alludes to the persecut- 
ing Jews and Pagans, does it follow that there is no 
Devil, or that the Devil did not excite them thus 



155 A MORE DIRECT R EPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



to oppose the people of God. The word devour, 
Dr. Macknight translates swallow lp, " So the 
word literally signifies, being used concerning solids 
as well as liquids. It strongly expresses the insatia- 
ble rage of the enemy of mankind, to hinder their 
salvation, and the danger we are in from his devices. 
For he sometimes attacks the people of God in 
person, though not visible ; and sometimes by his 
ministers, the other evil spirits, who are in league 
with him ; and sometimes by wicked men, his sub- 
jects, whom he instigates to tempt them by the ter- 
ror of persecution." The same Apostle says, in his 
second epistle — " For if God spared not the angels 
that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and de- 
livered them unto chains of darkness, to be reserved 
unto judgment."* Now, sin is a relative term, and 
supposes a rule or law of which it is a breach : for, 
says the Apostle, " Where no law is, there is no 
transgression."f And though that particular law 
which they transgressed be not revealed, it must be 
a positive one, or that of nature; if the law of 
nature, it is the same as the moral law, so far as it 
agrees with the angelical spiritual nature; and re- 
quires Divine worship, and other duties resulting 
from tjie relation of creatures to God their Creator. 
And supposing the law which they transgressed to 
be a positive one, they could not violate it without 
transgressing the law of nature. But a question 
* 2 Pet. K. 4. i Rom. ik id. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE* 157 

natural, y arises, how could pure and exalted beings 
violate any law ? Supposing we were not able to 
give any definite answer to this question, would it 
follow that they never sinned ? Certainly not, be- 
cause our ignorance can never alter facts. Nothing 
is more unaccountable than the motives and causes 
of action of free agents ; when any being is at liberty 
to act as it will, no other reason need be required 
for its actions but its own will. They who are at 
liberty to sin, may sin, whatever be the motives 
that induced them to it ; and to enquire what is that 
motive, is to enquire what motive may determine a 
free agent, that is, an agent which may determine 
itself upon any ground or motive. Immutability is 
an infinite perfection, therefore it could not inhere 
in a finite creature, however exalted in the scale of 
being. But how perfect and excellent soever any 
creatures are, they may be supposed to admire their 
own perfections and excellencies, and, by degrees, 
to neglect to acknowledge God, till they end in 
downright rebellion against him. And it is most 
agreeable to Scripture, that pride, or affecting some 
spiritual greatness above their station, was the cause 
of the fall of the angels ; and those perfections, which 
might secure them against every other temptation, 
might be the cause of this. But though they sin- 
ned, God spared them not, but cast them down to 
hell, and delivered them unto chains of darkness, 

to be reserved unto judgment. Neither will he 

o 



158 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTl'RE. 

spare any other persevering sinner who violates his 
law and rebels against his government.* 

The apostate angels in their state of degradation 
and misery, retain the same disposition as when 
they first rebelled against their Creator. They 
sinned without remorse : we never read of the least 
compunction in them, but meet with many proofs 
of their fixed malignity against God and all good- 
ness. Hence, says the Apostle, " the Devil sinneth 
from the beginning" f He does not say, he sinneth 

* On what occasion soever pride first shewed itself, it 
seems to have been the leading sin of the angels, who, 
admiring and valuing themselves too much on account 
of the excellence of their nature, and the height of their 
station, came at length to entertain so little respect for 
their Creator and Sovereign, as to be guilty of down- 
right rebellion and apostacy. But here observe, as crea- 
tures of this lower world, it becomes us to speak and 
write with reverence on this subject, for the moment the 
mind is carried to the contemplation of the fall of angels, 
that very moment it enters a region where all to us is 
mystery and unknown ; for where God is silent, all the 
conjectures of men are vain. Therefore, we wish to 
carry this subject no further than we are supported by 
the word of God. And here, we may observe, that 
Christianity passes over in silence, what forms no part 
of its design, which was not to teach men science, and 
gratify the unhallowed curiosities of men, but Divinity, 
faith, and morality. 

" Through worlds unnumbered, though the God be known, 
J Tis ours to trace him only in our own." 



f 1 John iii. 8. 



A MORE DIRECT R>EPLY TO THE LECTURE. 159 

at the beginning, though that be true ; but, he 
sinneth from the beginning, that is, sinning is his 
and all the host of evil spirits, continual practice, 
and has been ever since their rebellion. But Mr. 
H. tells us that the words used here, " are an evi- 
dent personification of bad and good dispositions of 
the mind, and the wicked are called the children 
of the accuser or adversary ; in exactly the same 
sense as on another occasion, he that committeth 
sin is the servant of sin ; and the righteous are 
called the children of God in the same sense, al- 
though in a different degree with Christ, who was 
styled the Son of God, on account of his exalted 
goodness.'' This is a sweeping declaration, whicli 
leads us at once into a self-evident absurdity, viz. 
to believe that sin lias an independent existence, or 
it robs us of our God, and leads us to suppose that 
that Being, whose existence is necessary and inde- 
pendent, only exists in a relative manner. We 
will examine for a moment, the modes of expres- 
sion made use of in this question. The expression, 
66 he that committeth sin is the servant of sin"* is 
the language of Christ, and evidently means one 
who habitually practices sin. That sin has only a 
relative existence may be inferred from the expres- 
sion itself ; for, if its existence were positive and 
independent, it would be absurd to say, he that 



* John viii. 34. 



160 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

commit teth or practises sin ; and it would be abso- 
lutely impossible to attach to this expression of 
Christ any definite idea. That sin has in itself a 
positive and independent existence, I believe no 
one will venture to affirm ; therefore it can have no 
more than a relative being, and can exist no longer 
than those beings continue to exist which are capa- 
ble of moral actions. For, if all moral agents were 
once annihilated, it would be an absurdity too gross 
to be imposed upon the mind of man, to suppose 
that sin, in this case, could have any kind of ex- 
istence. As, therefore, sin has not in itself any 
kind of positive existence, we must look to moral 
agents for all the being which it can possibly pos- 
sess. And although sin is, in a moral point of 
view, nothing more than the sinful thoughts and 
actions of moral agents, physically capable of a 
better conduct, yet so far can it extend its baneful 
influence in its effects and consequences, as to de- 
range the whole human system. 

2ndly. " He that committeth sin is of the Devil;*'** 
that is, he that lives habitually in the practices of 
sin belongs to the family of the Devil ; and as a 
proof of this the Apostle adds, "for the Devil 
sinneth from the beginning" that is, from the time 
of his apostacy in heaven. Now, how absurd it 
would be to say, lie that committeth or transgresseth, 



* 1 John iii. 8. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 1 151 

the Devil, is of the Devil ; and it is equally as ab- 
surd to say, that sin sin net h fir om the beginning, 
for sin has only a relative being, and depends on 
moral agents for its existence, and therefore it could 
never act independently of these moral agents. 
Therefore, to suppose that it was sin that sinneth 
from the beginning, leads us to believe a self-evi- 
dent contradiction, viz. that sin is dependent, and 
not dependent at the same time, or that sin acts in- 
dependently, although it has at the same time no 
independent existence. 

3rdly. The righteous are called the children or 
servants of God, because they habitually serve, 
honour, and obey him. Now, it would be abso- 
lute nonsense to say, he that committeth or trans* 
gresseth God, is the servant of God. Therefore I 
conclude, that God and Satan have a positive and 
independent existence, while sin has only a relative 
being; and the man that committeth sin is the 
servant of sin, or he is a slave to those actions 
which he commits. Surely, Mr. H. will not say, 
that God has no independent and personal existence. 
Why? then, has he classed him with sin, without 
he meant to say he had no real being; or, that sin, 
had a positive and independent existence. It is 
evident, that no absurdity is too great fortius know- 
ing one to adopt ! 

It is awful and affecting to consider, that the 
fallen angels are our inveterate enemies. The 
o 2 



162 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

Scriptures attribute to the Devil, all the various 
degrees of raalice; such as indignation, wrath, envy, 
and hatred. Malice is the Devil's character and 
disposition : — it is this which excites him to all 
mischief, and of breathing after all kinds of wicked- 
ness. Hence, he is styled the wicked one, which 
denotes a special wickedness. God is called by the 
Prophets, the holy one because he is infinitely 
and altogether holy. — So the Devil, because he is 
the most malicious, envious, and wicked being that 
exists, is called the wicked one. 

The Apostle Jude tells us, that the " angels kept 
not their first estate." Though the angels were 
created holy, and without the least inherent de- 
pravity, yet they were mutable ; and, indeed, mu- 
tability is essential to a creature, considered as such ; 
it is God's prerogative alone to be unchangeable; 
none but he can be naturally free from change. The 
angels that fell were not fixed in a state of unaltera- 
ble purity and happiness ; and as responsible beings, 
they were left to the freedom of their own choice. 
Jesus Christ tells us, they " abode not in the truth ;" 
and the Apostle says they kept not their first 
estate : the meaning of the Apostle is this — that a 
certain number of angelic beings, who were pos- 
sessed of all those physical energies which are es- 
sential to moral agents, kept not their first estate ; 



* John viik 4i. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 163 



or, they retained not their original purity ; therefore, 
"they left their own habitation" that is, they gave 
up their office or station, which was assigned them 
by their Sovereign Creator ; therefore, he cast them 
out of his celestial mansion, and u reserved them 
in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the 
judgment of the great day." Should it be said 
how can Satan and his host range up and down the 
earth, and at the same time be confined in chains ? 
We answer, that chains is a metaphorical expression, 
which denotes, that they have no more power to 
escape the present punishment which is inflicted 
upon them, than a man who is strongly bound with 
iron chains. Therefore, these chains do not denote 
their being confined to a certain place, but that 
wherever they go they carry their punishment with 
them. 

The same Apostle informs us of a contest which 
took place between an archangel, and the head or 
chief of apostate demons : " Yet, Michael, the arch- 
angel, when contending with the Devil, (he dis- 
puted about the body of Moses.) durst not bring 
against him a railing accusation, but said, The 
Lord rebuke thee." Now a good angel would not 
be the adversary of Michael. A good angel would 
not dispute with this archangel, and contend about 
the body of Moses. To a good angel, Michael 
would not say, " the Lord rebuke thee ;" therefore 
these words of the Apostle aflbrd u direct and posi- 



161 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

five proof of the existence of a supernatural evil 
being. In the Apocalypse we are informed that 
" there was zear in heaven f y that is, ihe gospel 
kingdom, which in many places in Scripture is 
called the kingdom of heaven. Michael and 
his angels fought against the dragon, and the dra- 
gon fought, and his angels, and prevailed not ; 
neither were their place found any more in hea- 
ven. And the great dragon was cast out, that 
old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which 
deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into 
the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.* 
Michael signifies, zcho is like God, and therefore 
may fitly represent Christ ; and the Devil, or Satan, 
is here styled the great dragon, which term is em- 
blematical of his great strength and bloody cruelty 
against the church. The former employed as his 
instruments in this war, Christian Magistrates, 
faithful minsters, and true believers, as well as 
angels, which he sent forth as ministering spirits to 
those heirs of salvation ; while the latter fought by 
persecuting emperors, idolatrous priests, and heathen 
philosophers ; this conflict ended in the total defeat 
of Satan's army, when the opposers of the kingdom 
of the Messiah were spoiled of their dominion and 
power, which is intimated by the expression, " he 
was cast out into the earth" This alludes to a time 
when the Christian Church emerged by a resolute 
struggle from a state of captivity and bondage, whea 
* Rev. xii. 7, 8, 9. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 165 



she conquered her enemies, dethroned them of their 
dominion and power : then was Satan cast dowu 
from his dignity as God and prince of this world. 
Here, observe, this victory is not ascribed to the 
sword of war, but to the merit and efficacy of the 
atoning sacrifice of Christ, by faith in his blood, 
and a bold and holy profession of his gospel. Hence, 
it is said, " they overcame him by the blood of the 
Lamb, and by the word of the testimony, and they 
loved not their lives unto death." 

Mr. H. has made a great flourish about the ab- 
surdity of a literal interpretation of two passages, 
and then concludes, that there is no Devil, because 
it would be absurd to interpret those passages 
literally : we will examine them for a moment. Our 
Lord said unto Peter, "get thee behind me, Satan;" 
literally, get thee behind me, thou adversary. Now, 
the question is, who was this adversary ? We answer, 
Peter. " Have I not chosen you twelve, and one 
of you is a Devil ; literally, have I not chosen you 
twelve, that is, some time ago ; but in the present 
tense, one of you is a calumniator. Who was this 
calumniator? We answer, Judas. We read that 
Jesus was tempted of the Devil; literally, the ac- 
cuser or calumniator : but who was this accuser or 
calumniator ? We answer, an evil supernatural 
being. Hence, it is certain, that we do not slide 
into any absurdity^ by interpreting these passages 
literally. And if Mr. H. could find ten thousand 



J60 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



more passages, where the term Devil, or Satan, were 
applied to human beings, it would not follow that 
there was not an evil supernatural being, or spiritual 
Devil or hellish Satan. 

Should it be asked, how can a finite being tempt 
persons in different places at one time ? We answer, 
1st. — That the Devil has many demons under his 
direction. 2nd. — That we do not precisely know 
what relation spirit has to place. 3rd.— That we 
are not sure that evil spirits may not produce effects, 
which often remain when those spirits are no longer 
immediately present. We know that a moral prin- 
ciple once imbibed, often produces effects for a long 
period after the departure of the person from whom 
it has been imbibed. 

Mr. II. calls the opinion that there is in existence 
an evil being, " an absurd and frightful notion." 
Now, it must be obvious to every attentive reader of 
these quotations which I have made from Mr. H.'s 
Lecture, that he believes in an evil principle, 
which is as bad, nay, worse than the Devil ; for this 
evil principle found its way into the bosom of Jesus 
Christ, which none of the advocates for the existence 
of an evil being dare venture to affirm. It is the 
property of error to be inconsistent. When the 
degeneracy of human nature is to be denied, the 
Unitarians will acknowledge no evil principle; but 
when the Devil is to be destroyed, his ghost haunts 
his murderers in the form of an evil principle. 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE, 1G7 

which corrupted (he pious heart of Eve, and fer- 
mented the pious mind of Christ. What Devil 
that ever was invented, could be worse than this 

EVIL PRINCIPLE ? 

" In a subject so abstruse in its nature as the 
present, in the investigation of which the mind is 
carried into unknown regions, we must expect that 
mystery will set a boundary to all human reason, 
a boundary that we can never pass ; and unless 
we implicitly believe the Bible, we must for ever 
wander in darkness." 

%i Abstracted from revelation, we can neither ac- 
count for the existence or non-existence of the Devil, 
for the following obvious reason : — The existence of 
all spirits is beyond our comprehension, above our 
nature ; and whenever we, on the principles of na- 
tural reason, can account for their existence, then 
it must necessarily cease to be supernatural ; and in 
attempting to make that to be natural, which we 
admit to be supernatural, we attempt to explain that 
which we admit to be inexplicable. The rules of 
duty dictate, that we should divest our minds of 
prejudice to look into our Bibles ; and when this is 
done, we shall soon discover that the doctrine of 
Devils is no bug- bear ; that hell itself is an eternal 
and indestructible reality, a receptacle prepared 

FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS." 

To assert that God would be unjust if he suffered 
his temporal creatures to be tempted by a super- 



1*68 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

natural evil being*, is the most unaccountable folly. 
For what does any man know of (he justice of that 
Being, who fills immensity with his presence, before 
whom angels stand confounded ? Can any man by 
searching find out God, or trace the unfathomed 
counsels of Deity ? If any finite creature could 
comprehend this great and exalted Being, and trace 
his infinite modes of action, he must cease to be 
infinite ; for finite can never fathom infinite, nor the 
less encircle the greater. How far the justice of 
God may permit man to be tempted before he 
approximates towards injustice, lies beyond the con- 
fines of human comprehension to determine. For 
what does any one know of the justice and govern- 
ment of God ? Can any one trace infinite relations, 
or view completely the amazing chain of causes and 
effects ? Does it lie within the reach of human 
understanding to comprehend ail the possible forms 
which justice can assume, and the diversified 
instances in which it can display itself? Is it pos- 
sible for any finite creature to see the close connex- 
ion that exists between time and the immense ocean 
of eternity ? Is it possible for the highest order of 
created intelligence to penetrate all contingencies — 
all certainties — all probabilities — all realities — all 
causes and effects — traverse the unbounded and 
illimitable regions of space, and survey the close 
connexion that exists in the great chain of intelligent 
and unbounded being ? If not, no one has a right 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 109 

to conclude that God is unjust in suffering his 
rational creatures to be tempted by any evil being, or 
that it is inconsistent with his moral government. 

Mr. H. tells us, that " the supposed existence of 
an evil being contradicts every rational notion of 
the Divine power, for this power must of necessity 
be imperfect, if there is a corrupter busily at work 
in the universe." He might with as good a show of 
reason have said, that the power of God is imperfect, 
because he permitted superstitious bigots to quench 
their thirst in the blood of the martyrs. We have 
to contend with our own natural passions, the pre- 
valence of surrounding example, the stigma and 
insults of malignant enemies ; but does it follow that 
God is deficient in power, because he suffers all these 
enemies to unite together, in order to stop our pro- 
gress in the ways of piety and virtue. The Apostle 
tells us, that some of the ancient worthies ff had 
trial of cruel mockings and scourgings; yea, more- 
over, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, 
they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain 
with the sword ; they wandered about iu sheep-skins 
and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, torment- 
ed."* But did any of these sufferers ever complain 
that the power of God was imperfect ? No : they 
rather said, with good old Elisha — " Fear not, for 
they that be with us are more than they that be with 



* Heb. xi. 36, 37. 
p 



170 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 



them." God may suffer us to be tempted by our 
enemies for a while, but when our warfare is accom- 
plished, he will avenge us of our adversaries, and 
bless us with an eternal peace. 

Infinite power can do every thing that does not 
imply a contradiction. He could, with infinite ease, 
annihilate the revolving sphere in which we live, 
and destroy the entity of all created existences in a 
moment. Whatever depends upon infinite power 
for its accomplishment, except it imply a contradic- 
tion, can be effected. 

Modern infidels, and particularly that implacable 
character, Richard Carlile, have done much of 
late to propagate the opinion that matter is eternal, 
and that it can never be destroyed. In passing, I 
would observe, that if we admit matter to be eternal, 
we must admit many self-evident absurdities ; and 
that it can be destroyed, is neither impossible, con- 
tradictory, nor absurd. If there be in existence an 
infinite power, it is possible for matter to be destroy- 
ed, unless we suppose matter to be more than infinite, 
which is an absurd contradiction. 

"Nor is the belief in the existence of an evil 
spirit," says Mr. H. " less hostile to the sublime 
attribute of Divine wisdom." Is it possible to 
imagine, that he, whose knowledge is perfect and 
universal, could have devised a method for the trial 
of human virtue, which subverts the first principle 
of morality r" Here observe, that this part of Mr, 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 171 

H.'s reasoning is founded upon a false principle, 
viz. (hat God lias devised, or invented, the Devil to 
tempt his children, merely to try their virtue ; 
therefore, the superstructure that is built on this 
absurd principle, must be false. It would have 
been equally as good logic if he had said, that God 
created every persecuting sinner, and every other 
temptation, merely to try the virtue of his people. 
The true state of the case may be illustrated by 
two or three examples: — 1st. When Joseph's 
brethren sold him to the Ishmaelites, it was a vo- 
luntary action on their part, and though God per- 
mitted it, he did not devise it; but he so over- 
ruled this free and voluntary action for good, as to 
make it the very means of advancing Joseph next 
to the throne of Pharaoh, and of saving the whole 
family of Israel alive. 

2nd. When David voluntarily and courageously 
engaged in contest with Goliath, God made this 
spontaneous and free action subservient to the in- 
terest of this young son of Jesse, and the very 
means of advancing him to the throne of Israel. 

3rd. And when the enemies of the Messiah cru- 
cified and put him to death, such was the wisdom 
of God, that he overruled it for good, and though 
it was a free act on their part, yet God effected the 
redemption of the world by it. And though Satan 
may voluntarily tempt the true followers of Christ, 
such is the wisdom of God, that he makes these very 



172 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

temptations subservient to the interest and advance- 
ment of the Messiah's kingdom. 

Nor is it inconsistent with the Divine goodness ; 
for Satan can only tempt or allure, he cannot com- 
pel. And every true disciple of Jesus may ask, 
with an inspired Apostle, " Who shall separate us 
from the love of Christ— shall tribulation, or dis- 
tress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or pe- 
ril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more 
than conquerors through him that loved us For I 
am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor an- 
gels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pre- 
sent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor 
any other creature, shall be able to separate us from 
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
Nor can Satan prevent any one from coming to 
Christ; man is a free agent, and cannot be com- 
pelled, Satan may tempt or allure, but in vain, 
if man be determined by the grace of God to come. 
And be it remembered, that a sinner had better 
contend with the allurements of Satan, with the 
Spirit of God to support him, than have to contend 
merely with his own passions, without the Spirit 
of God to assist him. 

" Some dream, that they can silence when they will 
" The storm of passion, and say — ' peace be still 
" But, < thus far and no farther when addressed 
" To the wild waves, or wilder human breast, 
" Implies authority, that never can, 
*' That never ought to be the lot of man." 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 173 



Therefore, the orthodox Christian, though he 
may have to contend against the temptations of the 
Devil, yet with the Spirit of God to assist hira, he 
stands upon a more firm and sure basis, than any 
Unitarian who has to contend against an evil prin- 
ciple, without the Spirit of the living God to sup- 
port him. 

" Bound on a voyage of awful length, 

And dangers little known ; 
" A stranger to superior strength, 
" Man vainly trusts his own, 
" But ours alone can ne'er prevail, 
«f To reach this distant coast ; 
" The breath of heav'n must swell the sail, 
" Or all the toil is lost." 

Mr. H. tells us towards the close of his lecture, 
m that natural light and natural darkness cannot 
possibly be so much at variance, as the cotemporary 
existence of good and evil principle in the moral 
world I" Having already met with so many con- 
tradictions, misrepresentations, and absurdities, in 
Mr. H.'s lecture, my mind is prepared for the re- 
ception of this. The attentive reader will remem- 
ber, that Mr. II. has often acknowledged the exist- 
ence of a good and evil principle ; and he has en- 
deavoured to explain many passages of Scripture, 
by saying its language was evidently a personifica- 
tion of good and bad principles ; yea, he acknow- 
ledges a good and bad principle to have heaved the 



171 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTURE. 

bosom of Jesus Christ, at one and the same time. 
But here this consistent reasoner tells us, that 
light and darkness are not more opposed to each 
other, than the cotemporary existence of a good and 
bad principle. If we trace this assertion to its ulti- 
mate tendency, it is not only at variance with every 
part of his lecture, but it annihilates at one stroke, 
all the evil that exists in the world ; or else, every 
principle of virtue and moral goodness, that exists 
in the universe. Therefore, if we should admit the 
wild chimeras of these men, we should at once be 
led into the bewildering vortex of absurdity, and 
involve ourselves amidst rhapsody and confusion. 

Whether the present essay, like the bursting 
bubbles on the passing stream, will expire, or it will 
pass on to ages yet to come, which its author can 
never reach, are points which events alone can 
decide. 

The author of this essay returns his warmest 
thanks to his numerous, and highly-respectable list 
of subscribers, for their kind patronage. If the work 
should not entirelv meet with their approbation, 
he begs them to keep the words of Burns in mind. — 

" An* ablins, when it winna stan* the test, 

" Wink bard, an* say, ' the chap has done his best.' " 

Or the generous maxim of Pope. — 

" To err, is human— to forgive, divine." 

The author hopes it will be a sufficient apology 



A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THIi LECTURE. 



175 



for this long delay of publishing, to say, that when 
he had got the work ready for the press, and a cer- 
tain portion printed, he found that he had more 
written than two volumes would contain ; conse- 
quently, he was obliged to take it home and abridge 
it : and be it remembered,' that his family depends 
upon his hand labour for its support; consequently, 
his time was limited, and he had to write the 
work over again, at a time when he should have 
been asleep ; and in addition to which delay, it has 
been detained a long time in the press, for which 
delay, the author is sorry : and likewise he hopes, 
that the candid and impartial reader will ever bear 
in raind, that the author has not had the advantages 
of a liberal education. From an early period of his 
existence, he was convinced of the depravity of hu- 
man nature, and the necessity of salvation by faith 
in the atonement ; consequently, he was led to seek 
redemption through the merits and efficacy of 
Christ's death, and to cast off all dependance upon 
any thing he could do or suffer : and the author is 
of the same opinion, that salvation is of grace, from 
first to last ; and he trusts that in a little while, he 
will have to sing with the redeemed above, that 
ever-blessed anthem, " Not unto us, but unto thy 
name be all the praise." 

Should there be any thing said in this essay, 
which the reader may think harsh and severe, the 
author hopes he will attribute it to the heat of cou- 



17(3 A MORE DIRECT REPLY TO THE LECTl RE. 

troversy, and not to any malicious design which (he 
author ha3 against Mr. H. As touching Mr. H.'s 
moral character, the author highly esteems him ; 
and he candidly and honestly confesses, that as a 
benevolent and moral character, Mr. H. is worthy 
of being set forth as an example ; and firmly be- 
lieves, that in acts of charity and kindness, he is 
exceeded by none, if equalled by many. Notwith- 
standing Mr. H .'s amiable and unimpeachable cha- 
racter, as it respects morality, such is the dreadful 
nature of his religious principles, that were his mo- 
rals ten thousand times more excellent, they would 
not stand in equilibrium against the evil tendency 
of these principles. And so long as Mr. H. enter- 
tains these principles, though the author may esteem 
him as a benevolent character, yet he cannot con- 
cede to him the term of Christian Minister. It is 
Mr. H.'s religious principles, and those alone, that 
these pages are directed against, and how far the 
author has succeeded in his endeavours to confute 
these principles, is left for the candid and impartial 
reader to determine. May the God of all grace, 
and the giver of all our blessings, grant that the 
reader and author, may at last meet in the mansions 
of the blessed, and sing together, through a never- 
ending eternity, " Worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain, to receive honour, and glory, and blessing, for 
ever and ever." Amen. 



Printed at T. Walker's Office, Silrer-Street, Halifax. 



